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RIDING THE WAVE bq speaks with the President and CEO of Milaha, Khalifa Bin Ali Al-Hetmi, to get the lowdown on Milaha’s current business activities and future expansion plans By Shereen D’Souza, Doha
Khalifa Bin Ali Al-Hetmi joined Milaha 31 years ago, and ever since he took over as president and CEO of the group in 2008, he has led by example and transformed the company into a successful and multinational enterprise, with its current assets valued at QR 18.7 bn. After successfully integrating Qatar Navigation, Qatar Shipping and Halul into Milaha, Al-Hetmi now prides himself in his extremely loyal colleagues, a strong balance sheet, diverse business portfolio and of course, being president and CEO of Qatar’s first shipping agent and a current market leader in the regional maritime industry Coud you tell us a bit more about Milaha as a group? We are one of the Middle East’s leading providers of supply chain solutions with an accumulated experience of half a century. Many things have changed since we started back in 1957 as the country’s first shipping agent and first public shareholding company. We now have five business units operating synergistically to deliver marine and logistics solutions to a wide array of clients. Our Maritime & Logistics www.bqdoha.com
segment works with some of the region’s biggest players in the oil, gas & petrochemical sectors in addition to major importers, exporters and shipping companies to deliver services ranging from logistics and marine transport, to port services, ship repairs, and complete shipping agency services. Our Gas and Petrochem segment owns and operates a modern fleet of product tankers, gas, and crude carriers that cater to major international energy and industrial companies. We also have several joint ventures and investments in LNG and LPG transport. In 2005, we entrenched our integral position in Qatar’s LNG supply chain by becoming the largest shareholder in Qatar Gas Transport Company (Nakilat), which owns the biggest LNG fleet in the world. Halul Offshore, which is a wholly-owned Milaha subsidiary, has witnessed exponential growth since its birth in 2000 and is currently one of the largest offshore marine services companies in the region. Halul owns and operates a diversified, hi-tech fleet of diving support vessels, construction support vessels, anchor handlers and platform supply vessels, among others, which puts us in an excellent position to offer and deliver comprehensive services to the offshore oil and gas industry. Halul has recently embarked on a regional expansion plan that will see us collaborating with partners in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and beyond.
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on the Qatar National Vision 2030, to enable human assets as a key driver of economic development. In 2013, I was honoured to receive the ‘Seatrade Outstanding Achievement Award’, a special award presented to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the industry in the region. I have also received the ‘Construction Week Qatar 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award’ for services rendered to the State of Qatar.
Milaha Trading truck
Milaha Trading is another example of the diversity of our portfolio as this segment not only represents some of the best-known truck, heavy machinery and lubrication brands in the world, but also owns and operates one of the country’s oldest travel agencies. Milaha Capital manages our financial investments portfolio as well as real estate assets and ensures optimal asset allocation with shareholder value creation set as its primary objective. What changes have you brought about since taking over? Could you tell us a bit about your achievements? The achievement I am most proud of is executing one of the biggest transactions in the history of the maritime and shipping industry in the Middle East and
Milaha Trading is another example of the diversity of our portfolio as this segment not only represents some of the best-known truck, heavy machinery and lubrication brands in the world, but also owns and operates one of the country’s oldest travel agencies integrating the three companies - Qatar Navigation, Qatar Shipping and Halul into Milaha. Just being able to contribute to that process is a great honour. I am also personally supervising our Qatarisation programme, which is largely based
How large is the shipping and logistics fleet? Milaha has full ownership and operational control of 90 vessels that are spread across our core business units. The majority of these are with the Gas & Petrochem and Offshore segments. In addition, we own and operate a fleet of eight container vessels in our Maritime and Logistics division. We also have a stake in 13 vessels as part of joint ventures. Four of these are VLGC (Very Large Gas Carrier) LPG carriers while the rest are LNG carriers. We are always looking to expand our fleet with state-of-the-art, environment-friendly vessels whether individually or through joint ventures. What is Milaha’s market share in Qatar’s shipping and logistics industry? Milaha is proud to be Qatar’s first shipping agent as well as a current market leader in the regional maritime industry. In 2014, our Container Shipping unit captured over 90 percent of the feeder market between UAE and Qatar, and over 60 percent of the overall traffic
AT A GLANCE Khalifa Bin Ali Al-Hetmi (President and CEO, Milaha) Education: Degree in Public Administration from the University of North Carolina, USA; diploma in Port and Shipping Management from Cardiff, Wales. Milaha Business Units: Maritime & Logistics; Gas and Petrochem; Halul Offshore; Milaha Trading and Milaha Capital. Activities: Offers logistics and marine transport and port services, ship repairs, and complete shipping agency services; operates product tankers, gas, and crude carriers; offers and delivers
comprehensive services to the offshore oil and gas industry; operates truck, heavy machinery and lubrication brands and travel agencies; Assets: QR 18.7 bn (total); QR 13.6 bn (net) Last year’s turnover: QR 2.63 bn Al-Hetmi’s Professional Affiliations: Chairman of Qatar Quarries & Building Materials Co.; member of board of directors at Qatar Electricity & Water Co. and the UAE’s United Arab Chemical Carriers.
APRIL 2015
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“Milaha has full ownership and operational control of 90 vessels that are spread across our core business units. In addition, we own and operate a fleet of eight container vessels in our Maritime and Logistics division. We also have a stake in 13 vessels as part of joint ventures”
Milaha ship Qatar Spirit
between Qatar and UAE, while our Shipping Agencies unit, which acts as an agent on behalf of vessels calling Qatari ports, increased its market share to 57 percent of all vessels calling Qatar during 2014. We currently operate the country’s main commercial port in Doha, in partnership with Mwani Qatar. The local logistics industry is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years especially in the lead up to the World Cup 2022. From all the business areas that Milaha currently operates, which is the most popular and largest contributor to its overall revenue? Looking at just our FY ‘14 numbers, our petrochemical and gas segment had an excellent year and was our frontrunner in net profit followed by Milaha Capital, which is the group’s investment arm. However, all our core businesses, including Maritime & Logistics and Offshore, have seen solid growth in recent years. What would you say are Milaha's strengths? What really distinguishes us is having such a diverse portfolio of business units that work together to bring the best
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possible solutions for our customers. We enjoy strong support and encouragement from the government as well as many of the major corporate entities in Qatar with whom we partner. We have an extremely strong balance sheet that gives us financial flexibility, and, of course, colleagues who are fiercely loyal and always ensure Milaha puts its best foot forward. All these factors make us more than ready to grow and expand into a globally-recognised player in the maritime industry. Could you tell us more about Milaha’s future plans and any upcoming joint ventures? Looking back at 2013 and 2014, we had two great years in terms of profitability and maintaining and growing our market share. In the future, we will continue to build on the record results that we achieved by adding more technologically-advanced, environmentfriendly vessels to our fleet, forging new partnerships with our customers, looking at opportunities to acquire new businesses, and strengthening our portfolio of businesses even more. On the local front, the on-going growth in Qatar’s economy, including
infrastructure project growth and population growth, in the lead up to the 2022 World Cup, will continue to benefit our business activities and will help us maintain and strengthen our foothold locally across a number of activities, including container shipping, logistics and port services. Regional and international expansion is also at the heart of our mission of becoming a globally-recognised player in the shipping and maritime services sector. We are actively pursuing a number of joint ventures and partnerships with established international players to take our capabilities to other parts of the world. Where do you see yourself taking Milaha in the future? I see us continuing on this path of sustainable growth and customer-centric services that we have adopted. Beyond maintaining and solidifying our local and regional market presence, it is my personal ambition and the group’s mission to transform into a globally-recognised player in the maritime industry. I would also like to see us, as a group, become an even better corporate citizen and contribute in significant ways to the economies in which we operate.