Logistics & Warehousing

Port of Salalah breaks past year record

The Port of Salalah has broken its previous year’s record in container handling volume, achieving 4.37 million TEUs (twenty-foot-equivalent units) with two weeks to go for the year-end closure.

While the global supply chain continues to battle with reliability issues and port congestions, the container carriers are finding it challenging to adhere to their port schedules which also puts pressure on port operations. It is despite these challenges that the Port of Salalah has reached this record.

Mark Hardiman, CEO of Port of Salalah said: “I am happy that we have reached our targets despite the challenging environment and our capacity constraints, an achievement that’s entirely attributable to the support of our customers and the outstanding work done by our team. The level of dedication that is displayed together with a continuous improvement mindset is also helping us aim higher and add value to those we serve.”

Port of Salalah also highlighted the collaboration of various government agencies such as Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, ROP customs, Coast Guard and Asyad.

 

Hardiman

Hardiman

Tests Sea-Air cargo connectivity

Meanwhile, in a crucial initiative, the Port of Salalah, in close partnership with ROP customs, has successfully tested Sea-Air connectivity with a priority shipment destined for Qatar during the second week of December.

The shipment, a 40FT Maersk container loaded from Antwerp, upon discharge in Salalah, was successfully moved on customs bond to Muscat airport for air freight to Doha in a record time of 15 hours. This included tracking the shipment movement process from the Seaport to the Airport in Muscat at every step. The ROP extended extraordinary support in making this trial a successful one with seamless operation at both ends, a statement said.

Sea-Air, a multi-modal transport supply chain solution that combines the Ocean freight’s cost-effectiveness and Airfreight’s speed in the supply chain, is more relevant now given the current reliability and high-cost challenges with Ocean freight post the pandemic. The integrated Salalah Ecosystem’s solution is also one of the key focus areas of Oman 2040 vision logistics strategy.

The Port of Salalah is the fastest access point between the Middle East, India, and East Africa and markets in Europe, the Americas, and the rest of the world. Moving cargo through the largest port in Oman can save days in transit times and cut costs. With this successful execution of this solution Salalah targets offering a viable and cost-effective Sea-Air product via Salalah and Muscat airports, which saves an additional two days in terms of total transit time over regional competitors.

“We were extremely pleased with the seamless operations with our shipment once handed over to Port of Salalah which helped us exceed our customer expectations” says Naushad Rehman, Managing Director, Muscat International Shipping, acting on behalf of the consignee. 

“Sea-Air shipments are known for their time sensitivity, the successful execution of the trial shipment of Sea-Air product with the cooperation from ROP customs and Asyad. This marks a significant step in testing our system capabilities, thereby bringing Salalah on the map of global Sea-Air locations,” said Hardiman.

The Port continues to actively contribute to Oman’s 2040 vision and objectives and support Oman’s economic diversification strategy.

Strategically located on the trade crossroads between Asia and Europe, and serving the markets of East Africa, the Red Sea, the Indian Subcontinent and the Arabian Gulf – the Port of Salalah is operated by APM Terminals as part of the APM Terminals global terminal network. The port operates both a container terminal and a general cargo terminal.