EXCLUSIVE: Oman prepares next port phase

03 July 2018
Detailed design is under way for the reclamation works at Sohar Port South phase 2

Sohar Industrial Port Company (SIPC) expects to start the second phase of Sohar Port South in 2019, according to the firm’s CEO, Mark Geilenkirchen.

“Negotiations are ongoing with potential investors and the detailed design for the reclamation works is under way,” Geilenkirchen tells MEED.

The second phase of the port’s petrochemicals cluster will have berths with a maximum draft of 25 metres, meaning they can accommodate the world’s largest vessels.

“[The] potential investors are companies that require that draft,” the CEO says.

In October last year, SIPC invited firms to prequalify for the consultancy and front-end engineering and design (feed) contract for the project.

The scope of consultancy work includes preparing the feed and tender documents for dredging, reclamation, shore protection, jetties, storm water drainage solutions, and the demolition of the old jetty at Sohar Port.

Geilenkirchen tells MEED the reclamation and storm water works are ongoing during the first phase of Sohar Port South.

The contract was awarded in April to Dredging International, a subsidiary of Belgium-based firm Dredging, Environmental & Marine Engineering (Deme).

The Sohar Port South development will expand the port’s waterfront area on its southern boundaries and increase the free zone’s 2,000-hectare land area by 10 per cent.

It is understood the first phase of the reclaimed land will house a bunkering terminal, which Singapore based Trescorp plans to start building next year.

The planned facility, which Trescorp says has a budget of $600m, will feature six deep-water berths with 25-metre drafts. One of the six berths will be equipped to receive very large crude carrier (VLCC) oil tankers with a capacity of up to 320,000 deadweight tonnes (DWT).

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