Oman eyeing bidders for design, construction + financing of the Salalah-Thumrait road

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Oman wants bidders to design, construct, finance + operate the Salalah-Thamrait road: Oman’s Finance Ministry has floated has opened the door for private sector companies to submit their qualification proposals for the design, construction, finance, operation, and maintenance of the Salalah-Thamrait trucking road, the country’s first carriageway to be built under a public-private-partnership (PPP) model. The deadline for submitting the proposals is 4 May, according to the statement.

About the Salalah-Thamrait road: Spanning a distance of 67 km, the proposed Salalah-Thamrait road will be designed primarily for heavy trucks bearing mineral ores, among other goods, from mineral-rich areas of the Wilayat of Thamrait in Dhofar Governorate.

Fitch Ratings affirmed Trade Bank of Iraq’s long-term issuer default rating at B-, with a stable outlook, it said in a statement. The credit rating agency attributed its rating to the bank’s improving underwriting standards, satisfactory liquidity position, and sizable liquid non-loan assets. Fitch also sees the bank’s liquidity position improving on the back of “higher receipts from oil revenues, which should feed into TBI’s balance sheet given its strong links with the Iraqi sovereign.”

The UAE Regulations Lab grants a license for an electric cargo aircraft: The UAE’s RegLab at the General Secretariat of the Cabinet issued a temporary license to test an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in the UAE in cooperation with the United Parcel Service (UPS), Emirati state news agency WAMreports. The license will allow UPS to use a new sustainable aircraft to deliver cargo in the UAE.

Container traffic at Saudi ports rose 7.76% y-o-y in February to 622,837 TEUs, according to a statement from the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani). The number of containers exported during the month increased 12.7% y-o-y, while imported containers rose 5.9% y-o-y. Transshipments rose 5.39% y-o-y to 234,743 TEUs, while some 883 vessels docked in Saudi Arabia ports during February, up from 842 vessels last February. On the flip side, cargo volumes fell 3.13% y-o-y to 23.1 mn tons.

The breakdown: The volume of dry bulk cargo increased 2.9% y-o-y to 3.8 mn tons, while liquid bulk cargo volumes fell 13.16% to 11.8 mn tons in February. General cargo soared 77.2% y-o-y to 639.8k tons.

Also worth noting:

• Finland-based marine and energy lifecycle solutions provider Wärtsilä inked afive-year vessel maintenanceagreement with UAE-based National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC), covering seven vessels in NPCC’s fleet. (MarineLink)
• Peugeot will supply DHL Middle East with a fleet of light commercial electric vehicles, with a plan to initially roll them out in the UAE, before expanding into other MENA countries including Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. (Statement)