Friday 19 / April / 2024
Muscat: Oman has completed its preparations to become a regional import and export centre after investing billions of rials for the construction of ports along the Omani coasts and through the completion of the legislative and technical structure that facilitates the work of importers and exporters and attracts domestic and foreign investments.
Lt. Colonel Mansour bin Nasser Al Rahbi, Director of “Bayan” System at the Directorate General of Customs at the Royal Oman Police (ROP) say about the various customs services: “They will effectively encourage importers and exporters to use Omani ports and attract foreign investments, thus enhancing the Sultanate’s position and geographic location, and improving the performance indicators in various trade and economic fields at the international level”.
He added that Bayan System is the largest electronic system in the Sultanate.
It is a mini electronic government and one of the most important national systems as it is linked to 42 government departments, as well as shipping and clearing companies, ports and airports operators and commercial banks.
The international trade statistics of the Sultanate with the world countries for 2016 indicate that the value of imports amounted to OMR8,954.6 million. Exports of local products reached OMR8,376.6 million while the re-export of foreign goods amounted to OMR3,024.3 million.
Awadh bin Said Al Alawi, Director of Commercial Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said, “The Royal Decree No. 11/2017 on defining the terms of reference of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and approving its organisational structure stipulates that the ministry’s functions include organizing import and export procedures to ensure the availability and quality of goods and products in local markets, in addition to the stability of their prices.
He added that all laws and regulations in force in Oman allow any investor to import and export any goods, provided that he has a commercial register and the licence of the commercial activity for the goods to be exported or imported. He said that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry was recently linked to “Bayan” System with the ROP Directorate General of Customs, to provide import and export applications, release shipments to save time and effort for investors, to issue licenses electronically and import various goods and products from all countries of the world to the Sultanate directly.
The “Invest Easy” portal of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is one of the programs developed by the Sultanate to facilitate the establishment of commercial and industrial projects and to support the import and export activity.
Khamis bin Abdullah al-Farsi, Director General of Trade, Head of “Invest Easy” Team at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that the number of applications submitted through the portal during the second quarter of 2017 stood at (36,369), including new records, renewal of the commercial register, the addition of activities and changes in commercial names.
The Sultanate seeks through its commercial and industrial ports to be among the top ten countries in international logistics performance by 2040. The transport and communications sector will become the second source of the national income.
One of the main ports in the Sultanate of Oman is Salalah Port, which is the central hub for the distribution and transport of containers in the transit zone between the East and the West. It enjoys a strategic location overlooking the Indian Ocean’s countries and its location on the international shipping lines.
Sohar Port is considered as a specialised port for the activities of general cargo, containers, liquid and bulk goods. The area of the port is more than 45 square kilometers. It contains 21 berths whose depth ranges from 16 meters to 25 meters and a total length of 6,270 meters.
Duqm Port is one of the largest economic projects that will serve the national economy and contribute to the diversification of sources of income by attracting large industrial investments due to its geographical location close to the international shipping routes and the
African and Asian markets. It has an advanced infrastructure with a total length of the waves breakers of about 8.7 km, the depth of the port basin is 18 meters and the access channel is 19 meters long, which qualifies it to receive and handle the very large crude carriers (VLCC).
Sultan Qaboos Port is the first port in the Sultanate. It was opened in November 1974 to be the first port of trade for import and export services. This port has attracted the bulk of goods of various types and sizes and contributed significantly to the modern development of the Sultanate. The port has a total area of 26.7 square kilometers and contains 13 berths whose depth ranges from 4 meters to 13 meters and a total length of 2592 meters.
Khasab Port in the Governorate of Musandam has been strategically located near the Strait of Hormuz in the far north of the Sultanate with a great attention accorded by the Government in order to encourage the commercial movement and serve the local economy of the governorate. It has a total area of 159 hectares and a commercial berth extending to 300 meters long and a fixed berth of fishing vessels of 100 meters, in addition to 8 floating platforms.
Shinas Port is considered one of the most important ports in activating the local trade movement between the wilayats of the Governorate of North Al Batinah in relation to fishing, livestock trade and agricultural products. It has witnessed many developments in terms of the provision of berths to serve trade and fishing activities and rehabilitation of livestock pens at the port.
Statistics indicate that the number of vessels anchored in the Omani ports during the first quarter of 2017 amounted to /2033/ while the total handled containers in Sohar Port and Salalah port amounted to 874,748 TEU.
Eng. Abdurrahman bin Salim al-Hatmi, CEO of Oman Global Logistics Group (Asyad) said, “The Group seeks to create innovative opportunities to add value to its activities and to create integrated logistics solutions at the local and global levels and interconnected through its experienced and trusted companies”.
He pointed out that within the framework of the Group’s vision to develop and operate ports and free zones in partnership with leading international ports and operators of major stations, as well as shipping and land transport activities and as part of the activities of ports and free zones, the operations of Khazaen logistics city come to be one of the largest logistics complexes, warehouses and light industries in the Sultanate
Asyad also seeks to achieve sustainable growth by identifying the basic functions, logistics roles and skills classified by sectors related to logistics services, as well as measuring, monitoring and forecasting the demand for the functions of each sector, thus enhancing the provision of opportunities and suitable work environments and possibilities, in addition to establishing partnerships to support logistics and beneficiary sectors.
