Port of Salalah has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Oman Air Cargo to open up a new sea-air cargo corridor through the port between Asia and Europe.

The agreement is aimed at strengthening links between the Sultanate’s sea and air freight transport sectors, as well as increase opportunities to develop Oman’s European freight transport market.

As per the deal, cargo arriving at the Port of Salalah from Asia will be air freighted to the key European hubs of Frankfurt and Milan – two very important destinations on Oman Air’s network.

Commenting on the partnership, Port of Salalah’s CEO Peter Ford said, 'With increasing space limitations and continued rate increases on air freight from Asia we are providing a viable alternative to conventional airfreight with a new sea-air product which combines ocean-freight and air-freight services.'

'Salalah offers transit times lower than any other port in the region and, together with Oman Air Cargo; we are able to provide a sea-air service that is an affordable solution for time-sensitive cargo.'

'Currently the majority of the region’s sea-air cargo is handled from well established UAE hubs, but Oman’s location and growing transport infrastructure is making sea-air an attractive new business from Salalah,' he added.

Abdulrazaq Alraisi, chief commercial officer at Oman Air, said, 'We are already seeing a great deal of interest in our sea-air cargo operations from Salalah. The port currently manages more than 36 weekly vessel connections to and from Europe and Asia and more than 45 weekly vessel connections to and from regional ports, as well as handling over 3.5 million containers each year.'

'These figures are set to increase and Oman Air has been working with the Port of Salalah for some time to develop this new sea-air product,' Alraisi noted.

'Now that the product has taken off, we look forward to adding more points of origin and destinations to complement our exisiting network and services we already provide at the Port of Salalah and Salalah Airport,' he added.-TradeArabia News Service