SOHAR ECODOCK

The Sohar Community

Real, cited health data from the neighbourhoods nearest the industrial corridor.

Who Lives Next to the Port

Sohar Port doesn't sit in isolation. Residential areas along the Batinah coast sit close to the industrial corridor, and the people living there breathe the same air the port's vessels are exhausting into. A 2024 clinic-record study of 410 asthma patients across 17+ areas near Sohar's main industrial complex (2014–2022) found a clear, distance-graded relationship: the closer a community sits to the port, the higher its severe-asthma rate (Al Okla et al., 2024).

Ghadfan

Roughly 2.6 km from the port. 27% severe-asthma rate among patients studied.

Majees

Roughly 6 km from the port. 24% severe-asthma rate among patients studied.

Falaj Al Qabail

Roughly 6.4 km from the port. 28% severe-asthma rate among patients studied.

51.9%
Severe asthma rate, high-exposure zone (<6 km)
35.2%
Severe asthma rate, middle zone (6–12 km)
13%
Severe asthma rate, low-exposure zone (>12 km)
Green chart plotting severe asthma rate against distance from Sohar Industrial Port
Severe-asthma rate by exposure zone, plotted against distance from Sohar Industrial Port (Al Okla et al., 2024).

What This Means for the Project

These aren't abstract statistics — they're households in Ghadfan, Majees, and Falaj Al Qabail living daily with the tradeoff of proximity to Sohar's industrial economy. The severe-asthma rate in the high-exposure zone is roughly four times the rate in communities more than 12 km out.

Reducing at-berth vessel emissions doesn't eliminate every source of industrial air pollution these communities face. Sohar's industrial complex is large, and shipping is only one contributor. But it removes one avoidable contributor: exhaust from ships that could otherwise sit idling at berth for days at a time. Every barge deployed is one more berth where that exhaust gets filtered before it ever drifts toward Ghadfan, Majees, or Falaj Al Qabail.

References

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