Today, on September 28, one of the larger commercial projects in Oman worth well over US$ 200 million equivalent to 95 million OMR, was signed in Muscat, Oman. HE Maqbool Ali Sultan, Minister of Commerce and Industry and Chairman of the Port of Sohar signed three contracts together with the CEO of Sohar Industrial Port Company (SIPC), Mr Jan Meijer, for financing, dredging and constructing the 1380 meter long and 25 meter deep jetty at the Port of Sohar.

In May 2008 a contract was signed in Rotterdam, Holland between the Government of Oman, the Port of Rotterdam and Vale, the largest iron ore company in the world. This Brazilian  mining giant is investing US$ 1, 4 billion and started the construction of a pelletizing plant in the beginning of 2009 that will supply the region with steel pellets. In addition, Sohar will also function as the distribution centre for iron ore to be exported to the Middle East, India and Africa.
Since then Oman Shipping Company, owned by Government of Oman, signed a deal with a Chinese shipbuilder to build four of the world’s largest iron ore carriers for transporting iron ore from Brazil to the Port of Sohar.

The final piece of the project; to construct a large deep-water jetty capable of receiving the next generation of Very Large Ore Carriers of 400.000 dwt to the Port of Sohar in Oman, came into place today. The Port of Sohar will be one of few ports in the world with the possibility to receive these large vessels as the jetty will have a draft of 25 meters.

The finance contract was signed with a consortium of banks; Bank Muscat, Oman Arab Bank, National Bank of Oman, Ahli Bank, Bank Sohar, Bank Dhofar and the State Bank of India. The reason for such a consortium is the scale of the project. In spite of the recession in the world, the Port of Sohar shows constant progress and the trust of both shareholders, The Government of Oman and the Port of Rotterdam, in one of the larger port development projects in the world is continuous and strong.

The contract for dredging the 25 meters for the new deep water jetty was signed with Van Oord from the Netherlands. Van Oord has been working in the Port of Sohar before and has also very long experience from big dredging projects in almost all parts of the world. Van Oord will increase the depth of the existing approach channel from 18, 5 meters to a depth of 23 meters and a new harbour basin with a berthing pocket of 25 meters in front of the jetty.

The last of the three contracts signed today was for the construction of the 780 meter long trestle with a 600 meter long platform. The jetty platform consists of an import location of  400 meters and two export locations of 600 meters. This contract is shared in a 50/50 joint venture between the Italian company SAIPEM and AFCONS from India. SAIPEM will focus on the design and to manage the project. SAIPEM is a global contractor and their offshore activity has built a global reputation as one of the true innovators in its field.
AFCONS are pioneers in infrastructure and development and will focus on the actual execution and implementation of the project.
The new deep water jetty in the Port of Sohar is set to be ready in the first quarter of 2011.