APL invests in JV terminal at Port of Salalah

The venture will start operations in 2011, after completion of the planned expansion of the container terminal at the Port of Salalah. The JV covers a 28 ha deep-sea facility that will have a total quay length of 700 m and an annual capacity of 1.6m teu. It will be capable of servicing container vessels of more than 10,000 teu.

Ron Widdows, group CEO of APL’s parent company Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), said: “The partnership with Port of Salalah is part of our long-term commitment to enhance our service to customers. Salalah’s location on the southwest coast of Oman makes it one of the most ideal transhipment hubs connecting the East–West container routes to the fast-growing Middle East and South Asia regions.”

He added: “This deal will enable us to acquire new business and complements the network of other arrangements we have in the Middle East region that are vital to our service capability, including into the Arabian Gulf.”