Business & Finance Club Magazine - Industrial Sector - Oman (Muscat) - A'Duqum Port in Al Wusta Region currently under construction is one of the strategic projects being implemented by the Sultanate's Government to boost the national economy and revive the economic and industrial activities in the Sultanate in particular and the whole region in general.

The Port of A'Duqum is  characterized by it's strategic location, as it overlooks the Arabian Sea and not far from the international shipping lines that link the East with the West and  the regional shipping lines that link the AGCC countries  and the Indian Ocean Rim countries with the international shipping lines.

Additionally, A'Duqum Port will serve the shipping lines between the Ports of the Sultanate, support cargo movement, the industrial and tourism activities as it lies almost mid-way between Port Sultan Qaboos in Muscat and Port of Salalah in the Dhofar Governorate. The availability of the Ship Dry Dock within the Port's infrastructure adds to the significance of the port as it will be capable of handling giant vessels with a capacity of 400,000 ton, in addition, to future giant vessels whose capacity touches 600,000 ton. It will also render repair and maintenance services to the vessels.

Eng. Qasim bin Ahmed al Shizawi, Director General of Ports at the Ministry of Transport and Communications said that the marine works at A'Duqum Port have been awarded to a consortium comprising,  Oman Consolidating Contractors, Jan De Noel of Belgium and Steva of Turkey. The Dry Dock marine operations will be undertaken by Daewoo Ship Building and Marine Engineering of Korea in conjunction with Galfar Engineering and Contracting Company. The superstructure works will be undertaken by some local and international firms, he pointed out.

Being one of the major ports in the region,  operations at A'Duqum Port, are expected to be completed towards the second half of 2012, whereas  works at the Dry Dock are envisaged to be completed on December 2010, he added. About 55% of the works at the port has been completed and 57% of the Dry Dock, which are ahead of schedule, he furthered.

Owing to the strategic location of the port and proposed mega industrial estates, the government has decided in 2008 to expand the scope of construction of the port to handle foreseen trade and industrial activities as well as contributing effectively towards shipping activity  in the region. Thus the port will have 42 docks with a depth of 18 meter in order to handle all commercial vessels of the current and next generation. As a result, the length of the main wave break is 4.1 km whereas the length of the minor one stands at 4.6 km. The Dry Dock draft stands at 18 meter, whereas the draft for vessels' gate canal stands at 19 meter and 10 km in length, he explained.

During the construction of A'Duqum Port, (first phase), docks with over 3 km in length will be constructed. The commercial docks with a length of 2250 meter and 350 meter wide provides for anchorage of 8 vessels at a time. Storage facility directly associated with the docks will also be available. These docks whose drawings are being drafted will meet trade and industrial requirements. Additionally, government's docks with 940 meter long are also being constructed to meet the government departments' needs besides availing the relevant facilities for boats and ferries, he added.

'Over 40,000 ton of rocks are being used at several locations of the project besides consuming about 450 ton of cement a day at this level. The main wave break's maximum length stands at 11 meter above sea level and over 22 meter in average from the sea bed. Core Lock with 8.1 cubic meter and weighing 20.4 ton will be availed to protect the wave break against drifts. The minor wave break's length stands at 9.5 metre above sea level and average of 18 meter of sea bed. Concrete blocks of about 3 cubic meter in size and weighing 7.2 ton will also be laid to protect it against drifts, he added.

Contractors are using the state-of-the-art equipment and cranes to construct the port as per international standards. Some of them have procured cranes weighing 160 ton to unload the blocks.  Satellite-guided electronic equipment is being used for the first time to fix blocks down the sea.  Contractors have also leased equipment and trucks valuing more than RO.1 million a month from local people and from various parts of the Sultanate. They have also procured materials worth more than RO.24 million from the local market during the month of April 2010, he furthered.

The infrastructural works of the project will be initiated this year and next year. They include construction of internal roads networks, water, electricity, telephone and wastewater utilities and buildings, he said.

Al Shizawi added that the Dry Dock project is made up of two dry docks; the first one is 410 meter long and 95 meter wide whereas the second is 410 meter long, 80 meter wide and 10 meter deep. It is capable of handling giant vessels of 380 meter long and 68 meter wide besides oil and gas tankers, cruise liners, container vessels, tug boats and machineries. It is also capable of handling future giant vessels of a 400 meter long and 75 meter wide. The project also includes a 2800 meter long dock. Lands with 453,000 square meter will be reclaimed to expedite vessels' repair, he furthered.

The Director-General of Ports at the Ministry of Transport and Communications said that the Dry Dock total space stands at 1.2 million square meter. 57.24% of the project was over as at the end of April 2010 and is expected to be completed by December 2010.

The infrastructure works for the dry dock include water and power plants, a premise for the external & international communications for the operational processes and communication between the coming vessels crews and the control centre at the dry dock.

The second part of the dry dock includes the upstream projects which include 17 projects related to the facilities, equipments and tools required to operate the dry dock. These projects were awarded to local and foreign companies from the Peoples' Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia and the Kingdom of Thailand.  These projects includes manufacture of two gates for the dry dock each of them comprising a heavy metal bar  ( 95 meter wide , 1375 tons heavy  and another bar 80 meters wide and 1250 tons heavy and 14 meters high . They will be manufactured at the site of the A'Duqm project.

It is worth mentioning that the dry dock pumps that will be filled up and emptied of water are among major pumps in the world manufactured for this purpose. The pumps can pump about 500,000 to 600,000 cubic meters of water in 3 to 4 hours only.

Work is underway to manufacture tools and equipment for the operation of the dry dock including iron cutters, repairs tolls, paint, 14 winches. ( 40-100 tons each). Work is also underway to build a plant for producing the gas which will be used in cutting the iron and welding equipment. Work is underway also at the CO2 and Oxygen production factories, as well as, other gases at the sites of the project. Work is also underway to manufacture high quality electricity control equipment (40 mega watt) to manage the electricity required for operation, in addition, to building a factory for air compressor that will be used in cleaning the surface of vessels. Work is also underway to build a plant for the treatment of vessel wastes and reuse of them in addition to building sub stations to distribute water, sanitary drainage and water treatment plant in addition to the other equipment and tools required for operation.

Oman Dry Dock Company, a closed joint stock Omani company, will manage and operate the dry dock.

As for the size of manpower at the project, the Director General of Ports said that the size of manpower at the port, as of April 2010, amounted to more than 6000, 2600 of which at the work site, of which 516 Omanis are working at the port project. The number of workers at the dry dock and its allied projects amounts to 3600 including 405 Omanis. He pointed out that thousands of jobs will be availed after the port and dry dock start operation.

He added that the work in the A'Duqm port goes as per the pre set plans as the Ministry of Transport and Communications is very keen to complete the complete the port, dry dock and upstream within the pre set time frames. He pointed out that by the end of the project, the quantity of iron that will be used in the project may hit more than 71,000 tons compared to 3 million tons of concrete and 19.6 million tocks of rocks. He optioned out that the digging quantities are expected to hit 75 million cubic meter compared to 25 million cubic meter of filling.

A'Duqm port is one of the major projects witnessed by the Sultanate currently. The project will be an added value to the national economy and will contribute to diversifying sources of income by attracting major investments and industries. This will result in the setting up of industrial areas and special economic areas and will also lead to developing the different sectors, logistic activities and other works thus driving the national economy to achieve the aims of the coming period as outlined by the government economic strategy.

It is worth mentioning that the government recently signed a shareholder agreement with Belgium's Port of Antwerp Authority for the management and operation of A'Duqm port in the Al Wusta Region. According to the terms of the agreement, a closed joint stock company will be established between the government of the Sultanate and Port of Antwerp Authority   for the operation and management of A' Duqm Port.

Al Shizawi hailed the continuous support provided by the Ministry of National Economy, the Tender Board, the Supreme Committee for Town Planning, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs, the Main Committee for the Supervision of the Development of the wilayat of A'Duqum and the other respective governmental organizations. He added that the support enabled the Ministry of Transport and Communications to overcome the challenges facing the project.

He hailed the cooperation of the governmental agencies at the wilayat and their continuous support including the Wali office, the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources. They provide every thing possible to ensure the success of this vital project. He also praised the role of media in publishing facts about the government's achievement in this field.