Oman will not extend Salalah port concessions beyond November 2028

Summary

• Oman's transport ministry told Salalah Port Services its operating concessions end 1 November 2028 without extension.
• The company called the decision final and unconditional in its Muscat Stock Exchange disclosure.
• About USD 200 million in leased equipment and a USD 300 million terminal upgrade now face reassessment.

The latest

Oman's operating concessions at the country's largest container terminal will expire on 1 November 2028 and will not be renewed, the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology told Salalah Port Services on Sunday 18 October 2026. The company told the Muscat Stock Exchange the decision is final and unconditional, and said its board will assess the impact. Details of the incoming operator are to be announced later.

Details

• The notification: The ministry informed Salalah Port Services on Sunday 18 October 2026 that the concessions will not run past their contractual expiry date, according to the ministry statement carried by Muscat Daily and Oman Observer. The ministry did not name a successor operator or set a date for naming one.
• The company's framing: In its filing to the Muscat Stock Exchange, the company characterised the decision as final and unconditional, language that forecloses negotiation over renewal. It said its board of directors will evaluate the consequences, without specifying a timetable for that review or the measures under consideration.
• The equipment exposure: Leased equipment on the company's books is valued at roughly USD 200 million, according to the two reports. That figure becomes the central question of the handover, because the assets sit under lease arrangements rather than outright ownership and the disclosure set out no plan for their disposition after 2028.
• The upgrade: A USD 300 million container-terminal upgrade was completed in the first quarter of 2025, lifting handling capacity to about 6.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units from 4.5 million. The spending was committed while the concession still had more than three years to run.
• Ownership: APM Terminals holds about 30% of Salalah Port Services and ASYAD Group, Oman's state logistics group, holds about 20%. Both shareholders now face a revaluation of their stakes against a defined concession end-date, alongside minority holders listed on the Muscat exchange.
• 2025 volumes: The port handled about 4.3 million TEUs in 2025, a 31% rise, and 26.4 million tonnes of general cargo, up 17%. The container figure means the terminal operated at roughly two-thirds of its newly expanded capacity in the first year after the upgrade.
• The sourcing: The decision was reported independently by Muscat Daily and Oman Observer, both relaying the ministry statement and the company's exchange disclosure. Neither the ministry nor the company has published terms for a transition process, compensation, or the treatment of existing contracts.

Background

Salalah is Oman's largest container terminal and a transshipment hub on the Indian Ocean route outside the Strait of Hormuz. APM Terminals, part of the Maersk group, has operated it under concession alongside Omani state and minority shareholders.

Between the lines

The timing is the story: the USD 300 million capacity expansion was finished in early 2025, little more than three years before the concessions lapse, and 2025 volumes of 4.3 million TEUs left the enlarged 6.5 million TEU capacity underused. That gap, plus USD 200 million of leased equipment with no disclosed disposition, is what the board now has to price.

What's next

Watch for the ministry's announcement of the new operator, the board's assessment of the impact, and any further Muscat Stock Exchange filing on the leased equipment or on APM Terminals' and ASYAD's stakes.

Source: Muscat Daily, Oman Observer