Qatar Navigation (Milaha) reported a net profit of QR363m ($95m) in the first nine months of 2017, which is less than half of the net profit (QR759m) it reported for the same period last year

The firm’s revenue also declined from QR1.99bn to QR1.66bn during the same period.

In a statement, Ali bin Jassim al-Thani, chairman of Milaha’s board of directors, blamed the weakness in the global shipping and offshore marine sectors for the listed firm’s financial results.

However, he expressed confidence in going into the final quarter of the year, noting that the firm’s net profit “improved significantly from the second to the third quarter of 2017.”

“We are … taking concrete steps to manage our costs, we also feel encouraged to see a number of new growth opportunities in the short and medium-term across our portfolio of services,” said Abdulrahman Essa  al-Mannai, Milaha’s president and CEO.

Several states in the Middle East region, led by Saudi Arabia, imposed a transport blockade on Qatar in June in the wake of the latest political crisis involving the majority of the GCC states.

MEED understands the drop in revenue and profit reflects in part the impact of the transport blockade.