Qatar Navigation announced Wednesday that its fully-owned subsidiary, Qatar Shipping Co., has been awarded a QAR 1.875 billion contract by Qatar Petroleum. Under the terms of the contract, Qatar Shipping will provide and operate harbor tugs, pilot boats and mooring gangs for Mesaieed Port for a period of 20 years from August 2014. Qatar Shipping will construct 19 boats in the coming three years to service this contract. Qatar Shipping Co. already operates the harbor tugs, pilot boats and mooring gangs at Mesaieed Port and this operation is expected to continue until the commencement of the new contract. Mr. K.K. Kothari, CEO of Qatar Shipping, said "This is an extremely gratifying award and is a validation of the quality of the services we provide currently." Qatar Navigation s President and CEO Khalifa bin Ali Al-Hetmi said that "we are pleased to be able to build on our long-standing, extensive relationship with QP across a number of our business units." Qatar Navigation, which handles cargo, ships petrochemicals and repairs ships, merged with Qatar Shipping