Oman's Sail Training Ship Wins Top Honors

 

The Royal Navy of Oman’s sail training vessel Shabab Oman II has won ‘Best Ship’ title at the Tall Ships Races 2025 in Aberdeen, Scotland, following on from a Best Ship win in the crew category at the prestigious 2025 Le Havre Sailing Festival in France three weeks ago.

The Shahab Oman II (A4LB, IMO: 9667215) is currently on a training cruise, calling on a number of ports in Europe, crewed by Royal Navy of Oman cadets under training. The vessel is an 87 meter fully rigged three-master, with 29,000 sq. ft. aloft. In most years she conducts a long-range five-month training cruise from Oman sailing through the Red Sea, Mediterranean and the Atlantic. In any tall ships meet, she is normally the visitor from furthest afield, and by the time they return home the 30 cadets aboard have undergone a career-foundational experience.

Oman, under both the previous Sultan and Sultan Haitham, has invested heavily in reviving Oman’s long maritime history. Over several centuries during which Oman maintained outposts from Gwadar (now in Pakistan), through trading stations such as Bandar Abbas in Iran, and down the East African coast, Omani sailors and ships were the binding thread which kept the far-flung Omani empire together. This era came to an abrupt end in 1964, when the Omani Sultanate in Zanzibar was overthrown in a coup and most Omanis returned to the homeland.

Besides maintaining a strong navy to keep open international rights of navigation through the Straits of Hormuz, where the International Traffic Separation Scheme is channeled largely through Omani waters, the government also set up Oman Sail in 2008. Oman Sail trains future generations of Omani sailors, training hundreds of schoolchildren every year, but also hosts international sailing events and world championships for various racing classes.

Oman’s merchant navy is also growing fast. Asyad Shipping, the state-owned shipping line, is adding 33 vessels to its mixed fleet, which already comprises more than 90 owned and operated vessels. Asyad is seeking to capture as much in-country value as possible by maximizing the haul of Oman’s oil and gas exports, and is gearing up to export hydrogen derivatives when development of the five mega new energy projects currently underway in the south of the country move into the production phase. It also operates regional container line services.

Oman is an active member of the International Maritime Organization, and its mediation expertise is often leveraged by other member countries to help resolve disputes and to secure the release of detained sailors. It led on the release of all 25 members of the crew of the car carrier Galaxy Leader, detained for 14 months in Hodeidah after the seizure of the ship by the Houthis in November 2023. The freed crewmembers came from Bulgaria, the Philippines, Mexico, Romania and Ukraine, and were repatriated through Oman.