Developing high-tech Oman container terminal
The last of three Post-Panamax cranes have been safely installed at Oman’s new container terminal at SOHAR Port and Freezone.
The high-tech cranes were built to order by ZPMC in Shanghai and represent a further multi-million dollar investment by Oman International Container Terminal (OICT) in the future of SOHAR as a new gateway to the Gulf.
“We’ve built temporary rail bridges from ship to shore so we can move the cranes to the quayside,” explained the OICT engineer supervising the operation. “Each crane weighs hundreds of tonnes, so the transport ship needs to be balanced by water ballast as the cranes are removed in order to keep its height above the water line constant.”
“Add to that the tide movements and the weather, and you can imagine the challenges we are dealing with,” he added.
The new cranes have an outreach of 52m to service very large container ships and are equipped to pick up two 20ft containers simultaneously, further increasing productivity in SOHAR.
Once completed, the new high-tech terminal development will be one of the most advanced terminals in the Gulf region. OICT will more than double its current capacity, targeting 1.5 million containers annually.
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