PORT OF ROTTERDAM, OMAN TO DEVELOP NEW MIDDLE EAST PORT

PORT OF ROTTERDAM, OMAN TO DEVELOP NEW MIDDLE EAST PORT    The Rotterdam Municipal Port Management and the government of Oman will jointly develop a new port of Sohar in the north of Oman that will handle chemical bulk cargoes.
   Both parties have signed a memorandum of understanding for the development and future management of the port under a joint venture.
   The port of Sohar is situated in the north of the sultanate of Oman, approximately 200 kilometers north of the capital Muscat. It is also located on the Arabian Sea coast, outside the Arabian Gulf. The distance to Dubai by highway is about 150 kilometers.
   The first vessels will be able to call at the port in early 2003, the port of Rotterdam said. The total infrastructure of the port and the industrial area will be completed within two years.
   Sohar is the coastal end destination of a gas pipeline from one of the gas fields in the interior of Oman.