MUSCAT -- Oman International Container Terminal (OICT) kicked off construction work on its modern terminal at the Port of Sohar late last week. The project, estimated to cost around RO 50 million, will boost the capacity of the terminal from the current 800,000 TEU to 1.5 million TEU. A further expansion is envisaged in Phase II of the terminal's development centring on Terminal D, targeted for completion by 2018. This will open up an additional capacity of 2.5 million TEU as Sohar leverages its strategic location to exploit the rapidly growing interest of shipping lines eager to use the gateway as an import hub in the region.
Said bin Hamdoon al Harthy, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, presided over the ground-breaking ceremony marking the start of construction work on the project. Also present were senior representatives of Sohar Industrial Port Company, OICT and contractors China Harbour Construction Company. The construction will enable the consolidation of the existing and future container handling operations at Port of Sohar. It will have a total quay length of approximately 1 kilometre and 68 hectares container yard. The terminal will be outfitted with the 4 current quay cranes with 3 additional post-panamax quay cranes and 14 RTGs.
The unique deep water availability alongside OICT's Terminal C enables them to increase the size of container vessels to 9,000 TEU. "One key achievement of the strong development of container volumes in Sohar is that they are being built based upon a captive market; a market that keeps expanding beyond the local horizon, even into the UAE. This will attract more mainliners in the near future, further reducing the logistics costs in the Omani supply chain. A consortium of large container shipping lines, the so-called "G6" is already expanding in using Sohar as their port of call. Combined with the transition of commercial cargoes from Muscat Port to Sohar by the end of this year and the fast pace development of Sohar Freezone, this will serve as a strong addition to the captive base", according to Andre Toet, CEO of Sohar Industrial Port Company.
"We truly believe that our expansion and the opportunities offered by Sohar's location will stimulate further increase of activities in Sohar. It will not only make Sohar more attractive to bring more transshipment cargo, it will also offer an excellent opportunity to bring back the Omani cargoes which are currently being served by neighbouring country ports. This volume is estimated to be around 200,000 TEU per annum, approximately 25 per cent of the total Omani domestic market", stated Captain Rashid Jamil, CEO of OICT. "This will increase the possibilities for the trade to increase their logistic activities in Oman itself and therewith open up more local job opportunities."
© Oman Daily Observer 2013
