The Port of Salalah is expanding container capacity to reach 4.5 million teu in the next two years by constructing two berths, but rapidly growing demand could make even that additional capacity inadequate by 2009.

“Towards this end, we are working closely with the Government of Oman to accelerate our capacity expansion to develop additional terminal capacity sequentially after berths 5 and 6 are completed,” said Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al Shanfari, chairman of the port.
Berth 5 is scheduled for operation during the fourth quarter of this year, while berth 6 is likely to be commissioned in the third quarter of 2007.
The Omani government has awarded a contract to construct 969 m of additional quay wall along with the extension of the breakwater.
The Port of Salalah had another good year in 2005 with volumes at both the container terminal volumes and the general cargo terminal showing growth over the previous year’s figures.
The port also reported a 13 per cent increase in net profits to RO4.1 million.
Container terminal volumes grew by 12 per cent to 2.5 million teu and the general cargo terminal witnessed a 17 per cent growth to 1.78 million tonnes.
The growth in container volumes was attributable to increased volumes from both Maersk Line and APL
“In 2005 we increased our focus on operational excellence and worked towards meeting our customers’ expectations of improved service delivery,” said Al Shanfari.
“While we have improved our gross crane productivity to an acceptable 30 moves per hour in 2005, we are confident that our strategies would enable us to achieve higher productivity numbers in the coming years,” he added.