First unveiled in June 2007, construction of the port began in June 2010. Commercial operations at the port were officially launched in December 2015. It was announced that the port would be operational in December 2016. In November 2016, German company
Siemens signed a $12.4 mn energy deal to provide power to Hamad Port. An expansion of the port was announced in June 2017, with approximately $550 mn worth of contracts being rewarded. The port is part of the Maritime
Silk Road that runs from the Chinese coast to the south via the southern tip of
India to
Mombasa, from there through the Red Sea via the
Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, there to the Upper Adriatic region to the northern Italian hub of
Trieste with its rail connections to
Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the
North Sea.
Operations during the 2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis At the onset of the
2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis, which began on June 5, much of the traffic to Hamad Port was put to a stop due to the banning of Qatar-flagged ships from seaports in
Bahrain,
Saudi Arabia, the
UAE and
Egypt. This prompted the port authority to set up new direct shipping routes, which as of June 2017, included
India-based
Mundra Port and
Jawaharlal Nehru Port, and
Oman's
Sohar Port. In September 2017, two new maritime shipping lines were launched from the port to enhance the country's trading connections with other ports in Malaysia, China, Turkey, India and Greece. ==Facilities==