Hanan al-Rahbi has been the Director General of Planning and Studies at the Ministry of Transport and Communications for 5 years. She played a big role during logistics strategy preparations and in the infrastructure subgroup of the NLS. Hanan has specific expertise in strategic planning regarding land transport and regulations. Her interview with us highlights the need for legislation around multimodal transportation here in the Sultanate.

WHAT IS MULTIMODAL TRANSPORTATION?
Multimodal transportation, in simple words, is the moving of goods from door to door by different means of transport. Ideally, this is done in a competitive amount of time and at a low cost. If you think about it, very rarely is any cargo moving in one mode of transport internationally. One hundred percent of all containers come by sea or air, then move over land. It’s not a new thing at all, but we don’t currently have regulations or legal framework to support this type of transportation. For this reason, we are drafting a new law to regulate multimodal transport in Oman.

WHAT ARE THE KEY PARTS OF THE LAW?
The most important facet of the new law is the clear definition of roles for each party involved in a multimodal transport contract.

We must highlight the responsibility of each party involved, from the carriers and freight forwarders to the receivers. A clear distribution of all duties is the main purpose of the new law.

HOW WILL THIS NEW LAW IMPACT THE LOGISTICS SECTOR?
Eighty percent of logistics is multimodal transport. As one of the main aspects of this industry, the entire process must be regulated before foreign companies will feel comfortable moving their goods through our borders and across Oman. Better control and management of multimodal transport will make Oman much more attractive to the rest of the world.

We’ve been practicing some sort of control through imitating international practices, but without laws or conventions. But as you may know, when things go wrong is exactly when you need laws. People try to solve things in all different ways, but no one knows their own responsibilities. We are preparing this new law to make things clear for people working in the marketplace.

HOW CAN THE SECTOR BE INVOLVED IN DISCUSSION OF THE NEW LAW?
When we started preparing this law, we didn’t do it by ourselves. We have been working in partnership with the private and public sectors.

On Feb. 23, we hosted an all day workshop at PACA to discuss the current draft of the multimodal transport law, which about 50 people attended. Representatives were invited from the government as well as the private and public sectors: Oman Customs, the ROP and Traffic Department, OGL, Ithraa, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Al Madina Logistics, LTS, Areej Oil, and many other companies from as far as Sohar and Salalah. These are all very strong players in the logistics industry in Oman. We received very valuable comments about the new law, especially from the private sector. In the end, they will be the ones using this new law on a daily basis, so hearing their comments on each article from a practical point of view was totally imperative. Fortunately, each representative was very positive about the new law and supported its issuance. In my opinion, this is because they look forward to new clarity in this area.
On that note, it’s important to remember that there is no international convention on multimodal transport. Some nations create bilateral agreements together, but this is still a new field for the entire global community. Of course, the first thing we did when we started drafting the law was to examine existing laws from other countries. We then adapted each article to work for Oman, modifying some of the old legislation.

WHEN IS THE LAW EXPECTED TO BE ISSUED? WHAT IS THE IMPLEMENTATION TIME FRAME?
The hope is that a final draft will be ready within a few months. It will go directly to the Ministry of Legal Affairs, where they will review the draft for a couple of months. We plan to see the multimodal transport law issued by the end of this year or early 2018.

As for the implementation timeline, we understand the need of the sector to transition well. There are companies doing multimodal transport now and they will need support. The law is not enforced from the day of issuance — companies will have six to seven months to learn and adapt once the explanation of the law is released to the public.

There will be a new structure set up to enforce this law, with a transport regulator put in place to regulate all aspects.

ANY FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS LAW FOR THE FUTURE OF LOGISTICS IN OMAN?
As one of the people working on strategy for our country’s logistics long-term, I truly believe that Oman can become one of the largest logistics hubs in the region. Our location is perfect. We have invested well in a solid infrastructure for over 46 years. While there are some ‘soft aspects’ left to work out, much work has been done and a foundation has been laid. In my humble opinion, it’s time for the harvest — time to get the fruit for all that we’ve done in previous years. This law will pave the way for more foreign companies to come invest in Oman, and they will be able to do so in a trusted legal environment.