Mr Saleh Al Jasser CEO of The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia announced that the company has signed a contract with Qatar Aluminium Company QATALUM on March 21st 2012 to transport aluminium shipments from Qatar to the United States of America on each voyage of the company vessels for a period of one year with an option to extend it further by another year.
The estimated value of the contract is SAR 50,625,000. It is also possible NSCSA will move other aluminum shipments for QATALUM from Qatar to Turkey and Italy.
Prior signing this contract, the company already transported shipments of aluminium to USA as a trial basis. These shipments are moved from the Port of Mesaieed in Qatar to the port of Houston, Baltimore and Savannah in the USA.
On August 11th 2011, NSCSA also signed a contract for a value of SAR 230 million to provide transportation and logistics services to Ministry of Defense for three years duration.
Mr Al Jasser further highlighted that as per the company's strategy, NSCSA decided to build new RoRo vessels for an amount of SAR 1,543 million. These ships are specialized in carrying general and project cargo and several types of RoRo cargo. The ships are equipped with heavy lift cranes and the deadweight of each ship is approx. 26,000 tonnes in addition to the capability of carrying containers in the designated area of the ship.