News / Drone strike keeps Salalah shut as disruption ripples across Gulf

Operations at Oman’s Port of Salalah remain suspended following an Iranian drone strike on Saturday that disabled a ship-to-shore crane, with APM Terminal’s hopes of a 48hr return to normalcy having been missed.

Minor injuries to a worker as a consequence of the strike was reported, with the port immediately evacuated, prompting Maersk’s terminal-operating division to announce the two-day suspension of operations.

Per the carrier’s advisory page, container operations at Salalah remained suspended as of Monday afternoon; Hapag-Lloyd issued an advisory of its own stating that as of tomorrow (31 March) the port “will gradually” resume operations.

It added: “The impacted area’s limited, and as operations resume, the port will take necessary steps to restore full capacity. However, operational constraints may remain for a period of time. Our vessel Lisbon Express is expected to resume operations as soon as possible.”

With the vessel in port at the time of the attack, the German carrier took the decision to relocate the Lisbon Express as a precautionary measure, but there appears little concern further attacks will occur, with Maersk advising that all vessels en route will continue to call there.

As to when they will be unloaded, that remains up in the air, with the situation likely leaving forwarders a further headache as Oman has proved to be something of a beachhead into the wider Gulf Cooperation Council region.

Ocean freight traffic manager for Translog Overseas, Sara Viviani, told The Loadstar: “As vessels are unable to cross Hormuz, carriers are unloading Gulf-destined containers mainly in nearby ports such as Khor Fakkan, Sohar, Salalah or even Jeddah.

“Most cargo is being sent to adjacent ports in the region, though, such as Sohar or Salalah in Oman or Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, with the UAE’s Khor Fakkan playing an important role even if few carriers are offering it because it is a minor port.”

For those containers lucky enough to make it to terminals in the Gulf, forwarders are turning to haulage operators to drive boxes to either their intended GCC destinations or to airports where they can find capacity for onward transit.