Designed to facilitate inland services, the new offering extends beyond the Port and includes secure customs clearances and bonded trucking services between Salalah and the Al-Mazyunah free zone under carrier haulage.
The new service reduces lead time and allows access to multiple markets. It also aims to support the growth of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Oman and Yemen and attract new investors. This is aligned with the Oman 2040 vision.
The Port of Salalah and Maersk have just completed the first trial shipment from China to the Mazyouna Free Zone.
The shipment was loaded in the Chinese port of Ningbo and arrived in Mazyouna and had a total transit time of 25 days.
This makes Salalah the best choice as gateway to Yemen. Previously, a major share was discharged in neighbouring ports and routed across the border through Oman.
Reduced cost and transit times for Yemen
This new corridor will help Yemeni importers reduce costs and transit time. Maersk has confirmed its commitment to creating the required capacity, connectivity, and contracts to scale this up, thereby also benefitting the local companies in Oman.
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Keld M Christensen, CEO of Port of Salalah said: “We are excited to be expanding our inland service capabilities to help support customers beyond the Port. This is part of our commercial efforts focused on growing our gateway volume, of which Yemen plays an important role.
"We are thankful to the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technology, ROP customs and Asyad for their support in making this happen.”
End-to-end service eliminates unexpected costs
The Port of Salalah acts as a facilitator in anchoring Salalah as a gateway to Yemen and the current initiative, in partnership with Maersk, ensures seamless cargo movement. Customers receive single window service until the final delivery location.
This not only ensures increased efficiency for customers but also has the potential to eliminate unexpected costs, such as line demurrage and port storage.
Christopher Cook, Managing Director at Maersk UAE, Oman and Qatar, commented: “Our ambition is to serve our customers with end-to-end, integrated solutions which simplify their supply chains.
"Our joint efforts with the Port of Salalah aim to achieve this, and we look forward to unlocking new value for our customers across the Middle East and North Africa region.”
As one of the world's most efficient transhipment ports, the new offering is well-positioned to offer a range of customers a consolidated, digital, streamlined service. Salalah delivers world-class terminal capabilities for containers and liquid and dry bulk handling.
The Port of Salalah currently serves large volumes of multiple commodities through Al-Mazyunah free zone.
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