Oman’s Sohar Port and Freezone will start bunkering service by mid-September as the facility partly managed by the Port of Rotterdam sees an uptick in cargo throughput and vessel activity.
Muscat-based Hormuz Marine will provide the services and operate a 8,000 mt tanker to deliver several grades of marine fuel to ships calling at the port, the Sohar Port and Freezone said in an Aug. 29 statement.
Sohar Industrial Port Company, a 50:50 joint venture between the Port of Rotterdam and Oman, manages the port and freezone.
“The agreement comes in response to the growing need for offshore refueling, allowing vessels to bunker efficiently and speed up global shipping times at the port,” it said in the statement.
Hormuz Marine will be able to deliver VLSFO, HFO, MGO and LSMGO to ships as they unload or pass through Sohar without the need to remain in port, its CEO Sulaiman al-Hadhrami said in the statement.
Q2 activity
The throughput of goods handled at the port increased by 14% to 18 million mt in the second quarter of 2021 from the year earlier period.
The number of vessels calling at the port rose by 18% to 804 over the same period.
The region’s main bunkering hub is the Port of Fujairah, on the east coast of the UAE.
Fujairah’s bunker market has also strengthened lately, with July sales rising 2.8% on the month to the highest in 2021. More oil tankers have been calling at the port and buyers are asking for bigger volumes, according to traders. Montfort Trading FZE is entering the bunker market in Fujairah, effective Sept. 1, according to Mikkel Jacobsen, head of bunkering.
Source: Platts