 Business & Finance Club Magazine - Industrial Sector - MUSCAT — Sohar Port’s Oman International Container Terminal (OICT) is launching operations today from a new Inland Container Depot (ICD) established at Barka, further reinforcing its position as north Oman’s pre-eminent gateway to international trade.
The new facility, now officially dubbed the ‘Muscat Container Depot’, will serve as a ‘halfway house’ between Sohar and Muscat, thereby enhancing OICT’s appeal to shippers and consignees located in and around the capital city.
“Today, we mark a new milestone in our efforts to make it possible for Muscat-based importers and exporters to benefit from the world-class container handling facilities provided by OICT Sohar. Muscat Container Depot is a one-stop logistics solution intended to deliver tangible cost benefits and competitive advantages to shippers who opt for Sohar as a gateway for the container shipments,” Lawrence Teo, Chief Executive Officer, OICT, said.
Set up at a sprawling site just 4km north of Naseem Garden roundabout, the Muscat Container Depot is the first Inland Container Depot of its kind in the Sultanate. Conceived as a ‘dry port’, it allows for OICT to have containers originating from, and destined for, Muscat city and its hinterland to be conveniently stored at a midway point between Sohar and the capital. With the establishment of the Barka depot, Muscat-based shippers no longer need to truck their containers to and from the Port of Sohar, said Teo “The ICD serves as an extended gateway for OICT, which will help shippers and consignees within Muscat city limits to access the Port of Sohar from Muscat itself. All of the import and export formalities can now be undertaken at the depot itself, including customs clearances, customs inspection, customs duty payment for import cargo, re-export documentation and other port formalities.”
The result of a collaborative arrangement between OICT and Al Madina Logistics, the depot presently features 35,000 sq metres of paved container yard space, customs bonded area and inspection bay, full-fledged customs office for import and export clearance, container handling equipment such as reach-stackers and forklifts, reefer facilities, and a fleet of trucks and trailers that shuttle between OICT Sohar and the depot. Depot capacity will be ramped up depending upon demand.
According to Teo, the Barka ICD will come as a boon to shippers and truckers who presently have to contend with congested carriageways, mandatory closures to heavy vehicles plying key Muscat roads during peak hours, and other constraints.
It also affords ease of convenience and enhanced connectivity to shippers based in industrial estates and manufacturing zones in Ghala, Rusayl, Nizwa and Barka, among other places.
Furthermore, with the six-lane Muscat Expressway due to open later this year, shippers can truck their containers in quick time, with no road closures to encounter, when they operate from the Barka depot, he added.
“Our single window custom clearance system for import, export and re-export containers, combined with the faster turnaround of vehicles and cargo, will translate into significant economic benefits to shippers and their businesses. Besides, a sophisticated Electronic Data Interchange is in place, enabling shipping lines and shippers to track the status of containers routed through OICT Sohar and Muscat Container Depot.”
With the launch of operations at the Muscat Container Depot, OICT will now be able to leverage its strategic location on the Batinah coast to attract new container business to the Port of Sohar.
Set up in September 2006, OICT is the exclusive provider of container handling services at the Port of Sohar. Its state-of-the-art deepwater terminal handles calls from a growing number of shipping lines, including some of the largest carriers in the world.
The list includes APL, Maersk Line, MSC, UASC, CMA and NVOCC operators (Balaji Line, IAL, ARC, BAY Ceekay line, and others). Also calling at Sohar are a host of feeder shipping lines, such as Sea Consortium, Simatech, OEL and Star Feeders.
A part of the Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) Group, the world’s leading port developer and operator, OICT also groups the Government of the Sultanate of Oman, Steinweg of the Netherlands and a number of other well-established Omani investors.
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