Cyclone Mekunu still haunts Port of Salalah

Despite the passage of a year since it was battered by Cyclone Mekunu, Port of Salalah continues to be weighed down by the adverse effects of the tropical storm. Storm-damaged equipment at its Container Terminal is still the subject of ongoing restoration efforts, while the company has had to shell out a higher premium as insurance cover, a high level official said. “As previous reported, Port of Salalah faced a catastrophic cyclone, Mekunu, during May 2018,” said C S Venkiteswaran, Chief Financial Officer — Salalah Port Services Co SAOG. During Q1 2019, the Container Terminal facility still faced reduced safe operating capacity due to damage assessment and restoration of equipment. Total expenses during Q1 2019 include cyclone-related costs amounting to RO 1,185K. The insurance claim assessment is ongoing,” the official said in the company’s initial unaudited and unapproved financial results for the quarter ended April 30, 2019. The Mekunu insurance claim, Venkiteswaran further noted, “lead to key insurers withdrawing from the renewal of the port package policy that cause a significant increase in premium rates. The port policy expiring on March 31, 2019, was renewed at a higher premium of about RO 1,730K per annum”, he noted. Port of Salalah posted a roughly 8 per cent increase in total revenues to RO 16.679 million for the first three months of this year, up from RO 15.429m for Q1 2018. Net profit after tax dropped to RO 1.625 million, down from RO 1.739 million in Q1 2018. Container throughput declined 12 per cent to 912K containers, down from 1,032K containers in Q1 2018.