PORT OF SALALAH: BUSINESS AND PRODUCTIVITY UP

C O N F I D E N T I A L MUSCAT 001011

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/11/09
TAGS: ETRD EWWT MU
SUBJECT: PORT OF SALALAH: BUSINESS AND PRODUCTIVITY UP

CLASSIFIED BY: Richard Schmierer, Ambassador, Department of State,
Embassy Muscat; REASON: 1.4(B),(D)


1. (C) In an October 26 meeting primarily focused on the Secure
Freight Initiative (SFI),Port of Salalah officials told USG
officals that business, productivity and profit are all up
significantly over the past few months. Senior Operations Manger
Dustin Stoker and Operations Project Manager Chris Hamlin said that
in October the key productivity indicator, moves per hour per
crane, was over 28, double the 14-16 moves/hour that the port was
running at a year ago. The numbers are so positive that the port
will be renegotiating contracts with key shipping lines to include
higher productivity commitments. The port also just signed a
contract with a new shipping line, CMA CGM, the world's third
largest shipping container company, to begin operations in Salalah
in November. Hamlin said the number of ships in port has been
significantly higher the past two to three months, noting that they
just went over three million moves for the year. Stoker remarked
that the increased efficiency was reflected in profit, as with only
three million moves the port hit its budgeted profit for five
million moves.




2. (C) Comment: The Port of Salalah installed a new management
team about a year ago, including a new Dutch CEO, Martijn
Vandelinde, and the two American operations managers quoted above.
While Vandelinde has complained in the past about the difficulty of
increasing profits while meeting Omanization goals, he has
obviously found a way to do so. End Comment.
Schmierer