Doha-based Qatar Navigation (Milaha) saw its profit halved for the first six months of 2017, due to difficult shipping market conditions.
According to the company’s six months report, the profit plummeted from QAR 553 million ($151 million) to QAR 267 million ($73 million), representing a 51.7 decrease.
“We are in the midst of an unusually prolonged global downturn across most marine sectors,” Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al Thani , Milaha’s chairman said, commenting on the results.
“We are actively taking steps to mitigate the impact of the current downturn, from both a cost as well as revenue perspective. In this regard, we see a number of short and medium term opportunities to position ourselves more strongly for when markets improve,” Abdulrahman Essa Al-Mannai , Milaha’s president and CEO added.
Milaha, which owns a 30 percent stake in Qatar’s LNG shipping giant Nakilat, said its operating revenue for the first half were at QAR 1.1 billion, compared to QAR 1.4 billion during the corresponding period last year.
The company’s Gas & Petrochem’s net profit declined by QAR 96 million driven by depressed rates and vessel oversupply that have impacted most of the tanker and gas carrier sectors Milaha operates in, in addition to lower profits from its joint venture operations.
1 QAR = 0.272993 USD