Logistics: A Critical Element In Oman's Development

Oman's strategic geographical location has long established the country as a centre for trade, connecting the Middle East to Pakistan and the Indian subcontinent to the East, Iran to the North and Africa to the South. Key to Oman's status in this regard is the fact that it is the only member of the GCC to be situated outside the Gulf of Arabia meaning that cargo ships seeking to dock in Oman's ports need not pass through the politically sensitive Strait of Hormuz.

It is only recently, however, following implementation of the "Tanfeedh" initiative, that Oman has started to fully leverage its strategic location and embrace the opportunities presented by developing itself as a key logistics hub in the Middle East, with aspirations of becoming a major global player in this sector.

Although preceding Tanfeedh, Muscat's new, long-awaited, international airport is scheduled to open later this year, with the ambitious aim of being ranked among the world's top 20 by 2020. In Sohar and Duqm, port facilities are being rapidly expanded in order to increase capacity for handling cargo and container ships. There is added motivation for this work in light of the current situation in Qatar which has seen cargo that would otherwise have been transported through other ports in the Gulf being rerouted to Oman. Indeed, trade between Oman and Qatar increased by approximately 2,000 per cent in the second half of 2017.

Tanfeedh identified a number of issues in Oman's logistics sector that needed to be addressed in order to aid development. These were: business transactions efficiency, connections and capacity, infrastructure and competition. Transaction efficiency is undoubtedly a critical element and the government has already taken a significant step in addressing this issue with the introduction of the "One-Stop Shop Window for Customs Clearance and Inspections" or "Bayan". The digital platform is designed to allow all customs clearance and inspection processes to occur in a co-ordinated manner, with the goal of reducing the average customs clearance period from eight days to less than one. The government is currently working to implement the system across all of its subordinate agencies and ministries with the aim of facilitating trade.

In order to drive efficiency in developing logistics, the government has entrusted Oman Logistics Company Group SAOC (Asyad) with overall responsibility for management of the sector. The Ministry of Finance owned company is...

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