MUSCAT, JUNE 2 - Cargo throughput registered by Oman’s three main maritime gateways at Suhar, Duqm and Salalah, as well as smaller ports in Muscat, Shinas and Khasab, jumped an impressive 15.5 per cent to nearly 50 million tonnes during 2018. The uptick in throughput volumes comes against a 28 per cent increase in revenues posted by subsidiaries of Asyad Group – the umbrella organisation representing government interests in various port, shipping, transport and logistics services providers in the Sultanate
“The Group’s companies have achieved growth in spite of the economic conditions experienced by the world, thanks to several steps that have contributed to improving the efficiency of the operations of the Group’s companies and to the optimal utilization of resources and the integration of its subsidiaries, where revenues have increased by 28 per cent in 2018,” said the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) in its newly published 2018 Annual Report.
Calls by commercial vessels to Oman’s network of seaports rose 1.4 per cent to 8,096 ships last year, up from 7,774 a year earlier.
Container volumes handled at the nation’s three main ports however slumped 11.8 per cent to 4.210 million TEUs last year, down from 4.774 million TEUs in 2017. Liquid cargo throughput was also up 10.2 per cent to 20.7 million tonnes last year, from 18.8 million tonnes in 2017.
Salalah Port registered a slide in the number of vessels calling at the transhipment and logistics hub in 2018.
Vessel calls declined to 2,143 last year, down from 2,396 in 2017 and 2,924 in 2016, according to the Annual Report. Calls by container ships dipped to 1,223 last year, down from 1,485 in 2017. Container throughput was also down at 3.384 million TEUs last year, from 2.946 million TEUs in 2017.
Port of Sohar, on the other hand, reported a significant uptick in vessel calls to 3,464 in 2018, up from 3,075 a year earlier. Container throughput totalled 825K TEUs, which was slightly lower than the previous year’s tally of 828K TEUs.
Muscat’s Port Sultan Qaboos, which is currently transitioning into a tourism port and waterfront development, received a total of 1,057 ships last year, comprising cruise ships, dhows, and grain carriers, in addition to hundreds of ships at anchorage. Commercial cargoes handled at the port (primarily cement, grain, vegetable oils and livestock) dipped to 974, 000 metric tons, down up 1 million tonnes a year earlier.
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