According to a report by Gulf Times, HE the Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti yesterday met with Iraqi Minister of Transport Kadhim Finjan al-Hammami to review prospects of cooperation in the fields of maritime transport, ports and aviation, and means of boosting them.

The meeting saw the announcement of opening a new navigation line between Hamad Port and Umm Qasr Port in Iraq, with the first ship set to arrive in the Iraqi port on May 1st, Qatar Tribune reported. A number of issues of common concern between the two countries were also discussed at the meeting.

A view of Umm Qasr Port, Iraq

Umm Qasr Port is Iraq's only deep water port, and part of the city of Umm Qasr. It is Iraq's second port in scale of size and goods shipped to the port of Basra.

Located on the western edge of the al-Faw peninsula, where the mouth of the Shatt al Arab waterway enters the Persian Gulf, Umm Qasr is strategically important. A small inlet separates it from the border of Kuwait. Before to the Persian Gulf War in the 90’s, traffic between Kuwait and Iraq flowed over a bridge.

The city of Umm Qasr was originally a small fishing town, but was said to have been the site of Alexander the Great's landing in Mesopotamia in 325 BC.

During the Second World War a temporary port was established there by the Allies to unload supplies to dispatch to the Soviet Union. It went unnoticed after the war, but the Iraqi government of King Faisal II sought to establish a permanent port there in the 1950s.

Image credits:

Inline image 1 - talosiraq.com, 2 - diariodenautica.com.