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OMAN's major Port of Salalah is medium and long-term expansion projects to account for growing container volumes that increased its handling capacity in 2021, marked by equipment purchases, reports IHS Media.
"A lot of the value that has been created for the shipping lines in Salalah, in our geographical location, can be translated beyond a simple transshipment product," said Mark Hardiman, managing director at the port.
"Given our proximity to very large populations, especially in East Africa and South Asia, we believe that there's a lot of export or reworking potential for containerised cargo in Salalah," he said.
The Port of Salalah handled a record 4.51 million TEU last year, up 3.8 per cent from 2020. As a result, the port is "currently operating at 100 per cent capacity," he said.
"Capacity can be dynamic sometimes, based on dwell times," said Mr Hardiman. "In general, we are pretty much full, which is a good position to be in."
Expecting continued growth in 2022 and beyond, the port is looking to add 1.5 million TEU of annual handling capacity, bringing total capacity at Salalah to six million TEU.
"Expansion will be done in phases, first through equipment additions. In the longer term, we would be looking to do some berth expansions as well," Mr Hardiman said, noting that plans for the latter have yet to be finalised. "Our customers are demanding more capacity of us."
"Our strategy is to develop the corridor where Salalah becomes a gateway to Yemen," he said. "Offering multi-modal transport solutions covering ocean freight and last mile-first mile through carrier haulage are some of the solutions being progressed as we speak."
Although transshipment remains the port's core business, Hardiman said Salalah must look beyond "just" moves over the docks to attract gateway import/export cargoes.
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