The UAE and Oman have taken a decisive step towards strengthening regional logistics integration with the signing of an settlement to determine the primary devoted cross-border freight rail service connecting Abu Dhabi and Sohar. The deal, finalised earlier this week between Hafeet Rail and Noatum Logistics, goals to supply a seamless and sustainable freight transport resolution throughout the 2 Gulf nations.
Beneath the settlement, Noatum Logistics will function the freight companies throughout Hafeet Rail’s community, with seven container trains anticipated to run every week. Every practice may have the capability to hold 276 TEUs, representing a complete annual throughput of practically 193,200 TEUs. The trains will accommodate 20-foot, 40-foot, and 45-foot containers, providing flexibility to cater to various cargo necessities.
The hall will facilitate the environment friendly transport of assorted items, together with manufactured merchandise, meals objects, prescribed drugs, and agricultural commodities, that are at the moment moved primarily by street. The shift to rail is anticipated to considerably cut back transportation time, price, and carbon emissions whereas bettering provide chain reliability and cross-border commerce effectivity.
The signing ceremony came about on the World Rail 2025 exhibition in Abu Dhabi, underscoring the rising significance of logistics connectivity within the area’s infrastructure agenda. Noatum Logistics’s CEO, Samir Chaturvedi, talked about that this mission connects two of the area’s most important hubs by rail for the primary time, offering clients with an inexpensive, scalable, and eco-friendly transport resolution. Hafeet Rail’s CEO, Ahmed Al Musawa Al Hashemi, highlighted the milestone as an illustration of the railway’s dedication to driving sustainable logistics progress whereas enhancing commerce relations between Oman and the UAE.
The partnership additionally enhances each nations’ broader financial diversification and decarbonisation objectives. With rail freight providing a cleaner different to street transport, the initiative helps nationwide sustainability targets and positions the UAE-Oman rail hall as a mannequin for inexperienced logistics growth. Noatum Logistics, which already runs intra-UAE rail shuttle companies such because the Khalifa Port-Fujairah hyperlink launched in mid-2024, will prolong its experience to this cross-border operation, making certain seamless integration of companies.
The settlement finally signifies greater than a logistical hyperlink; it marks the start of a unified infrastructure imaginative and prescient that goals to boost regional competitiveness and appeal to funding in transport and commerce sectors throughout the Gulf.
By establishing a high-capacity freight hall between Abu Dhabi and Sohar, the initiative strengthens financial cooperation, improves commerce effectivity, and advances sustainability aims. Past enhancing cargo motion, it lays the groundwork for a long-term logistics framework that promotes cleaner transportation and deeper regional integration. As each nations proceed aligning their infrastructure methods, the hall is anticipated to play a pivotal position in reworking the Gulf’s freight panorama, supporting financial diversification, and positioning the UAE and Oman as regional leaders in sustainable logistics connectivity.
