Talk highlights logistics as an attractive career

MUSCAT: To raise awareness about the field of logistics as an attractive career path, a talk on ‘Oman National Logistics Strategy’ was conducted by Ibrahim al Bakri, Programme Manager of the National Logistics Strategy Human Capital at the Oman Global Logistics Group. The talk was held at the German University of Technology in Oman (GUtech).

“Logistics is one of the fastest growing departments at GUtech,” said Prof Heba Aziz, Head of the Department of Logistics, Tourism and Service Management. The talk was part of a series of presentations organised by the Department of Logistics, Tourism and Service Management of the Faculty of Business and Economics.

Al Bakri said that in future university students may play a pivotal role as so-called ‘Logistics Ambassadors’, raising awareness about a field that is currently little known within the community in Oman.

The Oman Global Logistics Group SAOC was founded in 2016. According to Al Bakri, the long- term goal is to develop, promote and position the Sultanate of Oman as an international logistics hub and as a logistics brand within the coming twenty years.

“The aim is to increase the global logistics ranking and to be among the best 30 logistics hubs,” said Al Bakri while benchmarking Oman with Dubai and Singapore, the current leaders in Asia.

In his talk Al Bakri mentioned that in February 2017 a total of 74,000 jobs were available in the logistics sector in Oman. This number shall rise to 200,000 by 2030 and to 300,000 by 2040. The priority sectors for logistics in Oman are mining, fisheries, chemicals, food processing and agriculture. A total of 70 activities were identified as being part of logistics such as freight transport by road or ship or renting of trucks with a driver.

Al Bakri stressed that one of the important aspects is to reduce the time for cargo clearances at the Omani borders and to increase research and development in logistics.