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Duqm is being eyed by the US Navy as a new logistics hub

US 'looking to Oman as logistics hub'

MANAMA, March 5, 2015

A US Navy chief has hinted of future plans to move away from using ports in the Gulf such as Bahrain so as to bypass the problematic Strait of Hormuz.

Vice Admiral John Miller, Commander of the Fifth Fleet and US Naval Forces Central Command, has pointed towards Oman and its long stretch of Arabian Sea coast as a possible replacement, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

In an interview with US-based weekly newspaper Defense News, the Vice Admiral spoke with particular interest of the rapidly developing port of Duqm in central-eastern Oman.

“We see a future for the US Navy out of Duqm as a logistics hub and also an opportunity for us to bring ships in there for maintenance and for crew rest,” he said.

“There's a lot of development that has to be done in Duqm, so it'll take time before it's fully ready.

“But we see a future for the US Navy and Duqm.”

Although the Navy chief did stress US commitment to existing bases, he was equally as enthusiastic about future developments in Oman.

“When it's fully built out, which will take more than a decade, Duqm will have been transformed from a desert with nothing to a seaport, an airport and a large city of a couple hundred thousand people,” he said.

“They've built this with vision - and it'll have lots of communication, land lines going up into the Gulf that will be able to carry oil so you won't have to transport it in ships through the Strait of Hormuz.”

Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the vital Strait of Hormuz, which is just 39km wide at its narrowest point and has around 20 per cent of the world's petroleum funnelled through it.

Exact figures are not available, but according to analyst Roger Stern of the University of Tulsa National Energy Policy Institute, the US spent an estimated $8 trillion (BD3 trillion) protecting vital oil cargoes in the Gulf in the 34 years between 1976 and 2010.

Removing the need to protect such cargoes through the sensitive strait would in turn remove a lot of this cost.

However, Vice Admiral Miller made no suggestion that the US Navy base in Juffair, headquarters of the Fifth Fleet, would close anytime soon.

“We're here on an enduring basis,” he said.

“At our headquarters in Bahrain, we have a significant infrastructure development that's ongoing.

“We're preparing the waterfront for the eventual arrival of a littoral combat ship.

“Our partners know that we're here and that we're going to be here.” - TradeArabia News Service




Tags: logistics | Bahrain | Oman | US | hub | navy |

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