The Port of Salalah has achieved top port rankings regionally and globally in a new JOC study on port productivity. It has been ranked the  sixth top transshipment port and 18th top port globally, as well as gaining high positions in a number of categories in the Europe/Middle East/Africa geographic class in the JOC Group study.

In the Europe/Middle East/Africa geography, the Port of Salalah has been ranked third and seventh among top container terminals, placing Oman next to the UAE and underlining Salalah’s regional position among the busiest and most influential ports for trade.

“It’s important for all of our employees, customers, government partners and stakeholders to see tangible results and evidence that the Port of Salalah is a world-class port that invests in its people, productivity and especially service,” said its acting CEO, Ahmed Akaak. The JOC Group has spent over five years in collecting and analysing new data from 600 terminals at 400 ports and 17 global shipping lines in an effort to produce the first report which focused on berth productivity – a measurement of the speed at which container ships are unloaded, loaded and sent back to sea - rather than the traditional comparison of world ports based on volumes.

Upgrades in productivity and efficiency have been steadily improving at the Port of Salalah, in part due to a company-wide Process Excellence (PEX) culture launched over two years ago, which has tracked and improved a number productivity measurements around machinery and operation turnaround. Berth and crane productivity have increased by double digits this year, while truck and gate turnaround times have been slashed by half, among other developments. Also, earlier this year, the Port of Salalah commenced container terminal gate procedures on Fridays at no additional cost to customers, in order to improve its services for local businesses utilising the port.

However the Port of Salalah has been a busy port since its inception, owing to its strategic location aside the major Asia-Europe shipping trade lane and equidistant to the fast growth markets of Eastern Africa, Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Gulf, and foundation as a joint-venture investment between the Government of Oman and APM Terminals, one of the world’s leading port-operating groups.

The JOC study also featured a number of APM Terminals ports rankings in leading positions, including APM Terminals Yokohama (Japan) which held the number one position globally in productivity at 150 moves per hour (mph) while handling 875,000 teu in 2012. In comparison, the Port of Salalah achieved a productivity of 72 mph while handling 3.62 million teu in 2012.