Oman’s Transport and Communication Ministry has issued tenders for consultants to oversee the design and construction of berths seven, eight and nine at the site.

Four groups have so far collected documents for the project: Germany’s Zeeh Bahls & Partner Design, India's Consulting Engineering Services, the UK's Halcrow, and the Swiss company Renardet.

Construction is already under way on berths five and six at the port, raising the site’s container capacity to 6 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), from 4.5m TEUs. The berths will be 18 metres deep.