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Oman’s Port of Salalah has seen further strong levels of growth at its General Cargo Terminal (GCT), third quarter 2014 figures just released show. However container traffic levels continue to decline at this key regional hub.
The GCT handled 7.8 million tonnes, up from 6.2 million tonnes in the same period of 2013, a rise of 26%. This was mainly due to increased limestone and gypsum exports as a result of the burgeoning Indian economy
However container throughput, mainly transshipment, dropped from 2.6 million teu to 2.4 million teu in the first 9 months of 2014. Ahmed Bin Nasser Al Mahrizi, Chairman of Salalah Port Services said, “Transshipment volumes at the container terminal were negatively impacted by new terminal developments within the region, combined with the slow growth of global trade. The considerable volume growth at the GCT reflects the role of the port in supporting local business expansion and the growth in Oman’s balance of trade.”
Productivity levels fell in the third quarter at the container terminal, due to monsoon waves during the Khareef season and problems with twin lift spreaders, which required the use of single lift spreaders for almost a month. The challenges of the Khareef in terms of safety and operational robustness is proving to be a key problem for the port. “The risk of losing a customer as a result of our failure to address this issue, combined with the danger to our staff, means a solution must be found. It is clear that the new breakwater is still some years away and so investment has to be made in shore-based equipment to minimize the impact,” adds Mr. Al Mahrizi.
Competition from other regional ports and the rationalization of services by key customers such as Maersk and MSC as a result of their 2M alliance means that Salalah’s container volumes are likely to further decrease during 2015, the port has said. “Our strategy to increase local import and export volumes has had some success partly due to shifting container traffic from Port Sultan Qaboos,” reports Mr. Al Mahrizi. “Nonetheless the key to our future success is tied to the development of Salalah Freezone and we believe the management of the Port and Freezone needs to be more closely allied.”
Salalah continues to work closely with Oman Rail to ensure that the port is included in the early development plans of the fledgling rail network. “Salalah’s location close to the major shipping routes has always been its key strength,” says Mr. Al Mahrizi. ”So allying this with opportunities of cost effective transportation to Saudi Arabia and the GCC has the potential to transform Salalah into a dominant gateway port for the region.”
