According to Peter Ford (pictured), CEO of Port of Salalah, growth in general cargo volumes -- presently stymied by capacity constraints - is projected to surge once the long-anticipated expansion of the General Cargo Terminal is completed.
"After the expansion, we will be able to handle a number of liquid commodities, including caustic soda, and make Salalah an excellent location again, utilising the strategic spot that Salalah is in the world market to serve the region," Ford said in comments to the Observer.
A government tender for the development of a new General Cargo Terminal along with a Liquid Jetty has been hanging fire for several months. The contract entails the construction of around 1250 metres of linear general cargo berths with drafts of 16-18 metres, along with a new Northern Breakwater. The project will ultimately boost the port's handling capacity to 40 million tons of dry bulk commodities and over 5 million tons of liquid products annually.
Underscoring year-on-year growth trends at the GCT, cargo volumes jumped 12.6 per cent to 3.291 million tonnes during the first half of this year, from 2.923 million during the same period last year. This rise was fuelled by an increase in the volumes of limestone, gypsum, cement and commodities originating to and from the free zone.
Making a strong plea for an early decision on the GCT expansion tender, Ford said: "We all know the GCT is a growing business. We also know the customers in Salalah (and plenty of others who want to come to Salalah), cannot grow their business or cannot come here because we're at capacity. We've increased our efficiency every year for the last 10 years and we've moved the capacity of the terminal from a million tons to 6.5 million tons. But there's only so much blood we can squeeze from the stone! And we need the expansion two years ago - that's just the fact of it."
While the GCT infrastructure will be financed by the Omani government, Port of Salalah plans to invest in high-tech superstructure facilities to help underpin the port's appeal as a logistics hub for a diverse array of bulk commodities and liquids.
According to Ford, the port will invest in, among other things, state-of-the-art conveyor belt capabilities to replace the current truck-and-grab methodology of loading and unloading ships. Modern conveyor belt systems will be installed to move commodities directly from stockyards into the holds of ships at berth. Conveyor systems with capacities of up to 2,000 tonnes per hour per loader are envisaged.
These initiatives, the CEO pointed out, could also potentially pave the way for investments in a variety of midstream and downstream businesses, whether related to blending, processing and so on, either within the port area or the adjoining Salalah Free Zone.
"We welcome people to come up with new innovative ways of using our infrastructure and our capabilities. We're a world class port with full facilities, so if somebody wants to blend or add value or transship a bulk commodity, we've had multiple inquiries about all of that. Salalah is an excellent location for an awful lot of uses."
Equally imperative, says Ford, is the Northern Breakwater project not only to help secure the port against a host of potential threats, but also to support the growth of the cruise tourism industry. "The port needs a breakwater for a number of reasons - to protect itself from the environment, currents, the khareef seasons which brings with it significant marine perils in the form of waves, surge, and so on, and, from security concerns. We have a wide open port today, which cannot be easily closed off to unknown vessels."
Importantly, the Northern Breakwater is also proposed to host a new cruise berth to replace the current cruise berth located on the General Cargo Terminal. "At Salalah we've had already over 30 cruise vessel calls during the first half of the year, which is a significant increase over last year. And it can only get bigger if we could actually show that there is a nice location for customers to come and visit. There could be significant opportunity to generate tourism dollars from visitors if we can get the Northern Breakwater built."
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