Salalah port breaks container record again with 511,209 TEUs

Summary

• Port of Salalah handled 511,209 TEUs in September, a second straight monthly record.
• August and September combined topped one million TEUs, roughly 23% of all 2025 volume.
• The surge follows a $300 million terminal expansion completed last year.

The latest

Port of Salalah moved 511,209 twenty-foot equivalent units in September 2026, its highest monthly volume on record and the second consecutive month to set one. The figure was 4.1% above August's 491,114 TEUs, the previous high. Josh Surdin, Chief Operating Officer of the Port of Salalah Container Terminal, disclosed the September numbers in a LinkedIn post.

Details

• The headline number: The terminal handled 511,209 TEUs in September, according to figures released by the container terminal's chief operating officer. That was 4.1% higher than the 491,114 TEUs recorded in August, which had itself stood as the port's monthly record for only four weeks.
• Handling moves: Container-handling moves reached 301,113 in September, up 3.7% from 290,418 in August, port data show. The moves metric counts individual crane operations and rose more slowly than TEU volume, a gap consistent with a higher share of larger containers passing through the terminal.
• The two-month total: August and September together accounted for 1,002,323 TEUs. That two-month figure is equivalent to about 23% of the 4.325 million TEUs the port handled across all of 2025, according to official port statistics.
• The 2025 baseline: Official statistics show throughput climbed 31% in 2025, from 3.305 million TEUs in 2024 to 4.325 million. The jump marked the steepest annual expansion in the figures cited by the port and set the comparison base against which this year's records are being measured.
• First-half growth: Salalah handled 2.331 million TEUs in the first half of 2026, about 14.8% more than the 2.031 million TEUs recorded in the same period of 2025, according to port data. Growth continued at a slower rate than the previous year's 31% annual pace.
• Transshipment dominance: Transshipment cargo, containers transferred between vessels without entering the Omani market, accounted for 2.034 million TEUs in the first half, or roughly 87% of total throughput. Imports and exports tied directly to goods crossing Oman's borders totalled 190,304 TEUs, just over 8%.
• The expansion: The records follow a $300 million upgrade of the container terminal completed in 2025. The project covered all six berths, expanded the container yard and added new ship-to-shore cranes, designed in part to handle traffic under the Gemini Cooperation network run by Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd.
• Ownership: APM Terminals, part of A.P. Moller-Maersk, operates Port of Salalah and holds a 30% stake in Salalah Port Services Company. The arrangement links the terminal's operator directly to one of the two carriers whose alliance the expansion was built to serve.

Background

Salalah sits on Oman's southern coast outside the Strait of Hormuz, positioning it as a transfer hub on east-west trade lanes rather than a gateway for Omani cargo. Its volumes have historically tracked the routing decisions of global shipping alliances more closely than domestic demand.

Between the lines

With transshipment at roughly 87% of first-half volume and imports and exports at just over 8%, the record months reflect carrier routing far more than Omani economic activity. The $300 million upgrade was explicitly built around Gemini Cooperation traffic, and Maersk's parent company both operates the terminal and holds a 30% stake in the port services company. That concentration ties Salalah's growth to decisions made inside a single alliance.

What's next

Watch October volumes for a third consecutive record, and full-year 2026 throughput against the 4.325 million TEUs recorded in 2025. Any shift in Gemini Cooperation routing would register quickly in Salalah's monthly numbers.

Source: Oman Daily Observer via ZAWYA; Port of Salalah official statistics