Friday 26 / April / 2024
Muscat: Sohar Port and Freezone has signed an OMR9.24-million agreement to develop Phase 1 of the South Construction Package I by reclaiming 50 hectares by the last quarter of 2018.
The agreement was signed with Dredging International NV – Earth Moving Worldwide LTD on April 18 at a ceremony held at Sohar Port and Freezone head office in Sohar.
The agreement was signed on behalf of Sohar by CEO Mark Geilenkirchen and DCEO-CEO Sohar Freezone Jamal Aziz. DINV-EMW JV was represented by Alberto Mino, Area Manager of Dredging International NV, and Yves Aertssen, Director of the EMW group.
Geilenkirchen said, “This expansion is essential for Sohar to compete on a larger scale, and highlights our emergence as a logistics hub of choice within the Middle East. The development is driven by the continued growth we have experienced year-on-year, and the rapid rise of the logistics sector as a whole across Oman.”
“The Sohar Port South Development will support increased trade flows in the Sultanate and will allow shipping lines to launch more direct calls to the port, opening the doors to a greater variety of customers coming to Sohar in the future,” he said. He added, “Land area at the port will significantly boost our abilities to handle larger volumes of cargo traffic, as well as create new and sustainable jobs in Sohar.”
“Investors are lining up to take advantage of the additional 200 hectares being offered as part of the Sohar Port South Development. One of the first investors on board is Trescorp, a Singapore-based oil and petroleum products trading firm. In September 2017, the company signed a pact with Sohar to develop a 45-hectare terminal for the handling, storage and blending of crude oil, fuel oil and diesel at the port,” said Geilenkirchen.
“Trescorp’s Sohar venture requires deep water berths of 25m draft to handle supertankers of up to 320,000DWT capacity. The total investment in the project, which will include facilities for other petroleum products in the next phase, is estimated at $600 million and will generate significant employment opportunities within Sohar Port and Freezone,” he added.
The Sohar Port South Development involves extensive land reclamation, which will ultimately add 200 hectares to the port’s present area of 2,000 hectares. Under the development agreement, the first phase includes engineering, reclamation and stabilisation of 50 hectares of usable land within the port area. Besides soil improvement, 1,310m of shoreline protection, storm water drainage, and navigation aids, the contractor will also manage interfaces with neighbouring facilities and infrastructure.
The project will involve more than 750,000 cubic metres of earthworks to reclaim land from the sea. Another major task is the 1,310m shoreline protection, which will require in excess of 450,000 tonnes of rock. “Sohar Port is currently one of the major ports in the Middle East, a focal harbour that links the Far East with the Arab Region. The expansion of the port’s planned infrastructure is a key factor that will continue to support Sohar’s and Oman’s rapidly growing logistics sector over the coming years. DINV-EMW JV, with its strong history in the Middle East, considers this a strategic project that will continue to support the growth of companies in the Sultanate and the region as a whole,” said Aertssen.
