Qatar begins shipping cargo via Oman

DOHA - Qatar said on Monday that it had begun shipping cargo through Oman to bypass Gulf countries that have cut off sea routes to the tiny, energy-rich nation, its latest move to show it can survive a diplomatic dispute with its neighbors.

Qatar's port authority published video showing a container ship loaded down with cargo arriving at Doha's Hamad Port from Oman's port of Sohar to a water-cannon welcome.

Typically, cargo for Qatar stops at Dubai's massive deep-water Jebel Ali port or in the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi, then gets put on smaller boats heading to Doha. But since June 5, the United Arab Emirates has joined Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt in cutting off sea traffic to Qatar as part of the nations severing diplomatic ties over Qatar's alleged support of extremists groups.

Qatar's port authority said its cargo will go through Sohar, as well as Oman's port at Salalah, bypassing the need to dock in any of those countries that have cut ties. Global shipper Maersk already has said it will begin using Salalah for its shipments to Qatar.

Oman, not among those countries cutting ties to Qatar, routinely serves as a negotiator for Western governments needing to speak to Teheran.

Iran's southern ports in the Persian Gulf are all prepared to send goods to Qatar, deputy head of the country's Ports and Maritime Organization, Jalil Eslami, said on Sunday. "We are ready to load and send the materials and goods needed by the Qataris from the ports in southern Iran," Eslami said, adding that a consignment of commodities has already been sent from Iran's Bushehr port to Qatar at the demand of Doha.

The diplomatic crisis, the worst since the 1990, has seen Arab nations and others cut ties to Qatar, which hosts a major US military base.

Doha is a major international travel hub, but flagship carrier Qatar Airways now flies increasingly over Iran and Turkey after being blocked elsewhere in the Middle East.

After an initial run on supermarkets by panicked residents, Qatar has secured dairy products from Turkey. Iran also has shipped in vegetables by air and plans to send some 350 tons of fruit by sea to Qatar, with which it shares a massive offshore natural gas field.

Meanwhile, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have showed signals of easing tensions with Qatar. On Sunday, UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Bin Saud both directed that lenience should be shown for Qatari-Emirati and Qatari-Saudi families on humanitarian grounds.

Also on Sunday, Kuwait said Qatar was ready to listen to the concerns of Gulf Arab states that have severed diplomatic and economic ties with it, Saudi daily Arab News reported.

Ap - Xinhua