Muscat To Musandam By Sea

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It’s not a speedboat and it’s definitely not an F1 superboat. Call it the bullet ferry or a super catamaran if you will, but whichever way you look at it, the Shinas is probably as fast as it gets on water in a passenger ferry anywhere in the world.
At least for the next two months, until its sister ship Hormuz commences services on the same route. Shinas, the world’s fastest passenger ferry and diesel-powered at that, starts its services in Oman today.
With top operating speeds of nearly 52 and 56 knots (96km/hr and 104km/hr) respectively, the diesel powered Shinas and Hormuz built by Australia-based Austal for the National Ferries Company will make going to Musandam from Muscat an easy affair.
Both the Shinas and Hormuz are 65m multi-purpose passenger-vehicle catamaran ferries with a capacity to carry 208 passengers and 56 cars each. Announcing the launch of Shinas last Saturday to a select group of
dignitaries, professionals from the hospitality industry and the media, officials from the National Ferries Co, fully owned by the Ministry of National Economy, said that the Shinas would cover the 225 nautical mile approximately 420km) route between Muscat and Khasab in a little more than five hours.
The select group was also taken on a two hour-long demo run under Capt Alistair Yeats’ command that showed off the vessel’s high-speed capabilities.
A mountainous region separated from the rest of the sultanate by the UAE, Musandam has beckoned tourists, both domestic and inbo-und, for years, but getting there was a bit of a problem till now. The peninsula could earlier be accessed only by a weekly flight or by a ten hour drive that also involved passing through four immigration posts. Come July 30 and the peninsula will made more accessible from mainland Oman by sea and this time around with a scenic view of the rugged Omani coastline and turquoise blue waters to boot.Mehdi al Abduwani, chairman of National Ferries Co, said that the Muscat-Khasab-Muscat service was the first of three ferry routes oper-ating a total of five ferries to be put in place over the next 15 months. These ferries will greatly improve the sultanate’s coastal marine transport network and play a huge role in developing coastal towns into full-fledged tourism centres. The other ferry routes will be put in the central region of the sultanate, from Shana to Masirah island and in the south, from Hasik to the Hallaniyat islands.

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With the seating onboard divided into VIP, first class and tourist class sections, the interiors boast of luxury and comfort and huge glass windows with great views. Safety has been given top priority in its operations and the Shinas even has a helicopter landing pad for dealing with emergency evacuations.
Services onboard will include catering with breakfasts and lunches included in the current ticket price (see box). Other amenities to be implemented in the near future include a high-tech personal entertainment system, mobile phone services and Internet connections.
The shipping division of the Khimji Ramdas group has been appointed as the ‘husbanding agent’ for all the ferry services, meaning it will take care of all the logistics and allied support services needed at the ports. MC Jose, CEO, Projects & Logistics Group,Khimji Ramdas (KR), explained that once a booking is done by a passenger, all further formalities including preparation of passenger manifests and immigration procedures would be done by the KR shipping division, which incidentally handled 52 cruise ships and more than 120,000 tourists in the winter season of 2007-08.
“We will interact between National Ferries Co, ROP and the Coast Guard to perform a seamless embarkation and disembarkation programme for passengers,” said Jose about the massive logistics support needed for the operation.
The operations part of the ferry will be undertaken by the FRS Group (in association with crew provided by Austal), a world-renowned high-speed ferry specialist based in Germany. Originally set up in 1866 in Germany, the 142-year-old company has evolved into a high-speed ferry specialist that operates 27 vessels across Europe and Africa through nine subsidiary companies. In 2007, FRS carried 5.6mn passengers and 1.6mn vehicles.Christian Funck, CEO Oman, FRS, elaborated how his company’s experience with high-speed ferries in Europe and Africa would be used in setting up operations here. He added, “We are starting off with an international crew for now and will start training young Omanis in the future to handle various aspects of the operations, with a view to absorbing them in the workforce.”
There was little doubt in the minds of those onboard during the demo run that the ferry service would greatly contribute to the growth of the tourism industry in the sultanate. And predictably it is the travel and tour industry in the sultanate that is most excited and upbeat about the new ferry.
After all they are the ones who will benefit the most with increased inbound tours to the country. “The ferry service will definitely have a positive effect upon business.
At present flights between Muscat and Khasab are quite expensive and infrequent, so the ferry service will offer the chance for us to broaden our scope. I believe that customers will not only enjoy taking a sea tour to Musandam, but it should be a cheaper way to travel too.
This option will definitely attract more customers for NTT and, depending on the price of the trip, we expect to see business increase by 20-30 per cent over the next year,” said a representative of National Travel and Tourism (NTT).
Harsh Abrol, manager, Zahara Tours, added, “The new ferry service will be very beneficial for tourism in Oman and will meet the needs of many of our clients, which will, in turn, facilitate business for Zahara Tours. Many of our clients express interest in travelling to Khasab but there are a limited number of flights. The new ferry is a fantastic alternative to flying or driving and will boost tourism in Northern Oman. It will make this beautiful area much more accessible and will also encourage investors to consider Musandam for future projects.”
Abrol added, “I understand that even more ferry links are being planned. I am eagerly awaiting the completion of this project, as Zahara Tours will undoubtedly benefit from these in the long term.”
Addressing concerns of safety for other users of the maritime environment, al Abduwani also added that National Ferries Co had cooperated actively with the ROP and the Coast Guard in a huge familiarisation and safety campaign for fishing communities along the ferries’ proposed route.
He added that environmental and marine ecological factors were also taken into consideration and that the ferries would cruise at high speeds only in deeper waters where it would not affect marine biological life.