The Port of Salalah, located in the Sultanate of Oman, has launched multimodal service options that provide an alternative to rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope.

This is in response to the consensus among shipping lines ' expectations that the Red Sea blockade will continue.

From the Port of Salalah, an in-transit overland route by truck connects to Jeddah, located in the safer midpoint of the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia. The overland route takes approximately 4-5 days. From this point, the journey can continue by container vessel through the Suez Canal to Europe or the US East Coast, reducing the overall transit time under the current routing.

A further sea-air option provides a faster alternative for more time-sensitive cargo into and out of Europe.

Port of Salalah said upon discharge in the port, cargo is transferred in transit to either Salalah or Muscat Airports or even Jebel Ali, depending on the availability of airlift capacity and connections.

 [Source: Port of Salalah]

Salalah Airport offers state-of-the-art airfreight infrastructure, the ability to handle both narrow-body and wide-body aircraft, and sufficient spare handling capacity.

"This option reduces the lead time compared to a full ocean leg and reduces cost compared to a full air freight option," it said.

The port said the new multi-modal service reduces transit times by an estimated 20-40% compared to traditional east-west trade routes and could deliver a cost savings of 10-20% compared to a pure air freight solution.

The Port of Salalah can also be used to create flexibility in supply chains and customer-designed intermodal solutions, as it offers scaleable warehousing, storage availability, and modern Container Freight Facilities.

The port is also offering sea-air solutions. Recently, it teamed up with Maersk, Oman Airports and Transom to introduce several sea-air solutions via the Port of Salalah, which has been steadily moving and is currently gaining momentum.