Sohar Port’s Chief Executive Officer Andre Toet spoke on stage on Monday evening at the 2013 SeaTrade Middle East Awards dinner at Atlantis The Palm Dubai, as he received the prestigious 2013 Port Authority Award. Toet said he was honored that the Award had been given to Sohar, Oman’s number one port, Port of Rotterdam said in its press release.
At the red carpet event Andre Toet announced his plans for the next stage of Sohar’s exponential growth story. Over the coming weeks, Sohar will launch a multi-million dollar marketing campaign to target international investors for the port and free zone operations. The campaign will run under the motto: “Sohar It all starts here” and will focus on key growth markets in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Because of Sohar’s prime position as a deep-water port outside the Strait of Hormuz, coupled with the abundance of low-cost energy and feedstock like petrochemicals, iron and steel and aluminum, the port and associated free zone has seen unparalleled growth over the past ten years.
SOHAR now ranks as one of the world’s largest port and free zone operations, with total investments worth over US$ 15 Billion. The port was launched in 2002 as a joint venture between the Port of Rotterdam and the Government of Oman and the associated free zone was added in 2009.