Port of Salalah marked yet another milestone in its ongoing initiative to promote Oman as a Logistics hub for the region with the successful commissioning of a state of the art Agricultural bulk terminal in the port.

The facility has been developed by Arabian Sea Port Services, L.L.C. which is a joint venture of the Spanish conglomerate Algeposa group, Oasis Development Co. S.A.O.C and Al Thabat Holding, L.L.C.

The recently commissioned first phase of the project, comprises of a 25,000 sqm facility with a capacity of storing 60,000 tons of bulk grains and handling equipment capable of handling 15,000 MT of grain per day. The facility also provides the customers value added services like quality control services, pest control bagging services etc.

The second phase, which is already in being planned will double the capacity of the facility and is expected to be able to handle upto 500,000 MT per annum.

Port of Salalah CEO Andrew Dawes said “As one of the leading ports in the region, we are naturally positioned to leverage both our location and capabilities to diversify our service portfolio. This newly commissioned facility allows the port to not only provide enhanced services to our existing customers but also facilitate attracting new customers who have shown interest in using Salalah as the hub for the region. We believe that the expertise of Algeposa combined with the capabilities of Port of Salalah will provide a superior customer experience and result in more companies using Salalah as their hub for food and agricultural commodities in the future.”

Mr. Iker Elicegui, Country Manager of Aleposa stated “Our committed investment in the project which aggregates to over OMR 5 Million Rials ( about USD 12.5 Million ) is one of our biggest investments outside Europe. The proximity of Salalah to all major consumption centers in the Middle East and Africa combined with the good connectivity allows our customers have a reliable and cost efficient supply chain. The first phase of the facility is already attracting huge interest from many of our global customers who are looking at locating their operations in the region. We also see significant potential to use our facility to act as a catalyst for downstream industries in food processing, packaging and labelling to cater to the entire region”

The management of Port of Salalah continues to work on a number of new business opportunities that will contribute to the growth of the shipping & logistics sector in Oman and support the Government’s vision of seeing the logistics sector as one of the pillars of economic growth and diversification of the Sultanate of Oman.