Sohar Port and Freezone (Arabic: مِينَاء صُحَار والمنطقة الحرة) is an integrated deep-sea port and industrial free zone situated near the city of Sohar, in the Al Batinah North Governorate of the Sultanate of Oman. Lying on the Gulf of Oman, outside the Strait of Hormuz, roughly midway between Muscat and Dubai, it is one of the fastest-growing port-and-industrial complexes in the world and handles the largest share of Oman's seaborne cargo. The port and the adjoining free zone are developed and managed together as a single economic ecosystem, hosting steel, petrochemical, logistics and food clusters spread over more than 6,700 hectares, with cumulative investment of around US$30 arab as of 2024. The operator styles the name entirely in capitals (SOHAR Port and Freezone)in its official logo, branding and communications; the capitalisation is purely a logotype convention and not an acronym, the name being simply that of the city of Sohar. This article, following standard encyclopedic practice, uses normal sentence case throughout.
The complex is managed by the Sohar Industrial Port Company (SIPC), a 50:50 joint venture between the Omani state-owned ASYAD Group and the Port of Rotterdam. The port received its first vessel in 2004, and the Freezone was added in 2010. Sohar contributes over two per cent of Oman's gross domestic product and is a flagship project of the country's economic diversification programme under Oman Vision 2040. Since the entry into force of the India–Oman Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in June 2026, and the disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, Sohar has also emerged as a prominent gateway for Indian trade with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.
Etymology[edit | edit source]
The name of the port is taken from the city of Sohar (Arabic: صُحَار, romanized: Ṣuḥār), which was historically known as Mazūn (Arabic: مَزُوْن) in pre-Islamic times. The city is traditionally credited as the birthplace of the legendary sailor Sindbad of the Arabian Nights. Medieval Arab geographers described Sohar as "the gateway to China and the treasury of the East" on account of its far-reaching maritime commerce.