The Ministry of Transport and Communications has unveiled plans for the development of a major General Cargo Terminal at the Port of Salalah, which will be built alongside a full fledged Liquid Jetty catering to existing and future petrochemicals industries at the nearby Salalah Free Zone. The expansion promises to further entrench Salalah’s position as the pre eminent transshipment hub in the region.
Major local and international marine construction firms are preparing to bid for the ministry’s contract to build the General Cargo Terminal and Liquid Jetty, a tender for which was floated here late last week. As part of the project, the selected contractor will construct a 1,250 meters long linear quay wall inside the Southern Breakwater. A significant length of this new quay wall will be developed into multi purpose berths catering to dry bulk carriers, as well as government and naval vessels.
The remainder is earmarked for the construction of a liquid jetty fitted out with state of the art facilities for the loading and unloading of tankers that are destined to call Salalah in increasing numbers as petrochemical projects come on stream in the adjoining Free Zone. The new Liquid Jetty, slated to be operational by end 2012, will add value to petrochemical projects currently under various stages of development at the free zone. A major beneficiary will be Salalah Methanol Company, whose USD 900 million methanol scheme is set to shortly commence commercial production.
Pending the completion of the Liquid Jetty, the company plans to export methanol product from a temporary facility at the port’s existing General Cargo Terminal via a pipeline that originates from its complex at the Free Zone. The Oswal Group, which plans to kick off construction later this year of its USD 350 million to USD 400 million caustic soda venture in the free zone will also benefit from the Liquid Jetty project.
Along with the Liquid Jetty, the new General Cargo Terminal project has the potential to further consolidate Salalah’s dominance as a maritime hub. According to officials, investments in a new General Cargo Terminal have been necessitated by the dramatic increase in general cargo volumes currently being handled at Salalah. Ship calls surged an unprecedented 68% to 1,946 visits in 2009 from 1,159 a year earlier. General cargo volumes rose by 7% to 3.722 million tonnes last year from 3.469 million tonnes in 2008. The growth was driven by exports of limestone, around 1.6 million tonnes of which were shipped from Salalah last year.
Further underscoring the burgeoning growth trend at the General Cargo Terminal, the port recorded a throughput of 1.1 million tonnes during the Q1 of this year alone, representing a hefty 51% increase over volumes handled during the corresponding quarter in 2009. The growth was fuelled by an increase in dry bulk volumes. With drafts of 16 meters to 18 meters, the General Cargo Terminal and Liquid Jetty will feature deepwater berths large enough to handle the biggest vessels.
In fact, a revised master-plan for the Port of Salalah adopted by authorities last year, envisages a progressive ramp up of capacity at the General Cargo Terminal to a whopping 40 million tonnes of dry bulk commodities and 5 million tonnes of liquid products annually. Well known Indian engineering consultancy services provider, CES, is the Ministry’s Design and Supervision Consultant for the General Cargo Terminal and Liquid Jetty project. CES had earlier successfully undertaken the design and construction supervision of Berths 5 and 6, along with a new breakwater at the Port of Salalah.
(Sourced from Oman Daily Observer)
