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Sohar Port and Freezone continued to make solid progress in the first nine months of 2021, despite a global downturn in trade and continued supply chain disruption. Overall, cargo volumes increased by 6.1% in this period compared to the equivalent period in 2020, to 50.7 million tonnes, with liquid bulk up by 7% to 13 million tonnes, and dry bulk volumes rising by 4.3% to 28 million tonnes. Breakbulk cargo throughput was more or less the same at 1 million tonnes, while container traffic dipped by almost 4% to 563,000 TEU. Ship-to-ship cargo transfers were the biggest growth area at Sohar, however, rising by 59% to 3 million tonnes.
The Freezone’s performance has if anything been even more impressive, with a 16% increase in the land occupancy and a 14% increase in cargo throughput compared with the same period last year. The complex also achieved an 8% increase in exports to 1.3 million tonnes.
Mark Geilenkirchen, Chief Executive Officer of Sohar Port and Freezone, commented, “Given the prevailing global circumstances outside of our influence, the results of the last nine months have been extremely gratifying and further reaffirm the progress we are making to position ourselves as a major global logistics hub. The Port and Freezone has remained open at full capacity throughout the pandemic, operating safely and efficiently to serve the industrial and economic sectors. We are confident that by the end of 2021 we will have achieved one of our most successful years yet.”
