Oman Shipping Report Q3 2010 - New Market Report Published
| | The government of Oman and Port of Antwerp International (PAI), a subsidiary of Belgian Antwerp Port Authority (APA), in late March signed an agreement to set up a joint company to manage the planned Omani port of Duqm. The JV will see both partners hold a 50% stake in new company Port of Al Duqm, which will manage the port.
We note a trend in the developing Omani port sector of calling upon the
expertise of well-established European ports to help in the development
of the Sultanate's ports.
The Omani port of Sohar is managed by the Sohar Industrial Port Company,
a 50/50 JV between the government of Oman and the Dutch port of
Rotterdam. The development of the port of Duqm, due online in 2012, ties
in with Oman's plan to develop Duqm into a major industrial city,
boasting a free trade zone, a power plant and an oil refinery. The
planned port is expected to boast an 18m draught, allowing it to
accommodate chemical and liquid carriers. The port will handle oil
exports, as well as containers, conventional freight and bulk cargo.
Also planned are an airport, port, dry dock, commercial and residential
areas, and tourism development. The port is located nearly 700km south
of Muscat and is likely to serve as a maritime, industrial and
commercial hub due to its proximity to the busy regional sealanes
traversing Oman's coast.
Oman's shipping and port sector will benefit from relative political
stability and a strong macroeconomic recovery in 2010. The Port of Sohar
should experience its third year in succession of significant tonnage
increases. In 2009 we estimate that throughput at Sohar surged ahead by
55% to 10.67mn tonnes. In 2010 we see a further 30.7% volume gain to
13.95mn tonnes. The strong gains are a function of capacity expansion as
the port's ambitious development programme moves ahead and it takes
advantage of its position outside the Straits of Hormuz to capture more
regional and international trade. Despite having its own expansion plans
the Port of Salalah on the other hand will for the moment tend to see
more 'business as usual'. Here volumes will ease down from 7.3% growth
in 2009 to 5.4% growth in 2010, taking the total to 3.92mn tonnes.
The Port of Salalah will remain Oman's prime box facility and we expect
it to handle 3.755mn 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2010, an
increase of 7.5% on 2009. The Port of Sohar, meanwhile, a much smaller
container facility, will nevertheless experience some faster growth. The
total number of boxes handled there will double in 2010 to 211,309
TEUs.
We are predicting a moderate improvement in trade, measured in real
terms. We see total trade (imports + exports) growing by 2.5% in 2010,
marginally up from 2009's growth of 2.4%. Imports will stand still with
most growth coming on the export side (5.8%), lifted by gains in oil
shipments. In nominal terms 2010's export growth will total an
impressive 25.6% to US$32.2bn, lifted by increases in both the volume
and value of hydrocarbon exports. Imports will revive from the previous
year's standstill, gaining by 17.1% to total US$25.8bn.
Source: Official Wire |
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