All major works at the Duqm port will be completed by the last quarter of 2019, paving the way for it to become operational as a full-fledged port at by the beginning of 2020. With all major remaining packages awarded in recent months and the award of a contract for a liquid berth expected soon, the port is on track to become a fully-functional facility by the said date. The contracts awarded recently include gates, superstructure, remaining work at terminals, buildings for the port and dredging work.
“With the authority awarding several packages for building the port, foreign investors are confident that they will now be connected to the rest of the world. Lately, there has been a growing interest among foreign investors about the port,” Reggy Vermeulen, chief executive officer of the Port of Duqm, told the Times of Oman. “We have set a base for the flow of investment.”
Once the port starts its full-fledged operations sometime in the beginning of 2020, it will have a 2.2-kilometre long commercial berth, a 2.2-kilometre long container berth, a one kilometre long government berth, a liquid berth and a break bulk berth for miscellaneous cargoes.
Loan agreement
Of late, the Oman government has signed a $265 million loan agreement with a Chinese development bank for partially funding the development of the port.
The proposed new container terminal at the Duqm port is expected to become operational by early 2020. The container handling capacity of the terminal will be eventually ramped up to 3.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per annum, from an initial capacity of 200,000 TEUs, according to Vermeulen.
The port has started operations for importing project cargoes and exporting dolomites after a soft opening a couple of years ago.
However, once the ongoing projects are completed by the end of 2019, the port will handle general cargoes, containerised cargoes, bulk cargoes and liquid products.
Referring to the proposed railway terminal, Vermeulen said the port is actively working with Oman Rail for preparing on the port’s side a mineral terminal for exporting minerals in large volumes. “We are also keeping the end target of GCC railway connectivity.”