A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) has planned to add the Sohar port of Oman to its ocean shipping service, the ‘Shaheen Express’, starting on 3rd July 2023.
The ‘Shaheen Express’ will rotate between Jebel Ali, Mundra, Pipavav, Jebel Ali, and Sohar, creating a stable and reliable service for the India-UAE-Oman corridor. The ‘Shaheen Express’ will continue addressing the rising demand for customers trading between the Indian and the Gulf markets. The ‘Shaheen Express’ will include two vessels with a nominal capacity of 2,800 TEUs.
The direct service to Oman will improve transit time for some of the inbound corridors, such as from Port Qasim (Pakistan), Port Said (Egypt), Sokhna Port (Egypt), Kolkata Port (India), Jawaharlal Nehru Port (India) and some European ports. Similarly, by directly calling Mundra and Pipavav in India, it would greatly help the chemical and industrial exporters from Oman.
Christopher Cook Managing Director Maersk UAE, Oman & Qatar
“Oman is an extremely important market for us. We believe and are fully committed to participating in this market’s growth story. In recent times, we have seen an increased demand from our customers. We recently expanded our office footprint based on the feedback from our customers and are now adding the Sohar port call to our Shaheen Express.”
Mr. Cook added that “The improved transit times combined with the reliability of the ‘Shaheen Express’ would render predictable ocean transportation solutions to our customers, which in turn, will help them plan their supply chains better, optimize their inventories in line with their operations, and meet the demand from the market.” The introduction of ‘Shaheen Express’, combined with end-to-end logistics solutions being offered in Oman, will allow Maersk to bring competitiveness to the operations of importers and exporters out of Oman.
The ‘Shaheen Express’ will continue to contribute towards the rising trade between India and UAE as well, which has seen a steady rise owing to the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that entered into force in May 2022.
