The Noura Express service, on the East Africa trade lane operates four vessels of up to 2,755 TEU capacity, linking the ports of Jebel Ali (UAE), Khor Fakkan (UAE), Mombasa (Kenya), Mogadishu (Somalia) and Salalah. At Salalah, transshipment is available to CMA CGM’s Europe Pakistan India Consortium (EPIC) Service, which links ports in South Asia, the Gulf, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, and North Europe, according to a press release.
The EPIC Service is operated with eight vessels of up to 9,400 TEU capacity. “The introduction of the EPIC service to the Port of Salalah provides our growing customer base in Salalah with an additional opportunity for export to Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, as well as for imports from the Indian subcontinent” said Port of Salalah CEO David Gledhill.
“The Noura Service call leverages the strategic location of Salalah to provide a new, fast cargo connection from East Africa to Europe, which can potentially be also used to accommodate Omani imports from Kenya and Somalia,” he added.
Part of the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network, the port of Salalah is now undergoing an expansion which will double the quay length, and increase dry bulk capacity to 20mn tons, and liquid bulk capacity to six million tons annually.