Omani new rail-network to surge exports considerably

(MENAFN) As the aspiring Omani national rail network currently under development connects prodigious mining sites with the Sultanate's maritime gateways, gypsum exports along other minerals will increase massively.

Oman Rail's GM stressed that the switch from outdated truck-based shipping of minerals to rail-based freight, along with the deployment of high-capacity ship-loading systems, has the prospective to send export volumes soaring.

A 60,000-ton ship can take around 4-6 days to load using traditional transportation and loading techniques, so with the new applied system the goal is to advance that significantly by using high capacity methods of loading.

As the rail network becomes fully operational, the transportation capacity is expected to increase from an approximately 10-12 million tons per year to nearly20 million tons, according to the project's GM.