02 Aug 2006
Muscat: Sohar Industrial Port (SIP) is making rapid progress in becoming a mega hub that will attract international investments in areas such as heavy industry, petrochemicals and logistics.
And along with SIP's Terminal B, the Oman International Container Terminal (OICT) is expected to be operational next month.
James Frater, CEO of OICT, said: "The terminal will facilitate the increasing cargo trade in the Gulf region through the provision of efficient and effective services."
Plans for OICT's first phase include a total yard area of 26 hectares and a quay length of 520 metres, with a depth alongside of 16 metres.
OICT is operated by Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL), the world's leading port investor, developer and operator with interests in 20 countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Americas.
Terminal B, which will be exclusively operated by OICT, will have a capacity of 800,000 TEU (20 foot equivalent units) in a total yard area of 26 hectares, a total quay length of 520 metres with the draft at 16 metres. Equipment will include 4 super post-panamax quayside cranes and 8 rubber-tyred gantry cranes, as well as a fleet of reach stackers, yard tractors and trailers.
Once fully operational, OICT will provide the kind of cutting-edge cargo-handling facilities and logistics services expected of a HPH member that will enable it to rapidly establish itself as the premier container handling facility in the Gulf.
A number of petrochemical and industrial ventures are already under various stages of development at the SIP, which involves investments in excess of $15 billion.
For the management of the SIP, the Omani has a joint venture with the Port of Rotterdam. This joint venture is called the Sohar Industrial Port Company (SIPC). The SIPC has a Concession Agreement with the GSO for 25 years.
Insight: Oman's ports on the rise
Oman has three ports and a dry dock Port Sultan Qaboos in Muscat, Port of Salalah in the south, and Sohar Industrial Port in the northern Batinah region while the dry dock is in Duqum and it is expected to be developed into a major port in the next 10-15 years.
Port Sultan Qaboos' location makes it an ideal hub not only for the Arabian Gulf but also the Indian subcontinent and markets in the Far East and South Africa.
The Port of Salalah is the deepwater port in the southern region of Oman, which can accommodate large vessels and is the main Container Trans-shipment Terminal of the region. The port offers a sheltered harbour protected by a breakwater.
In the SIPC now the focus is on concluding contracts with the Industries and Service Providers and organising the institutional framework necessary for a world class port to operate in.
Gulf News 2006. All rights reserved.
