Cold room project case study in Oman: Port-side blast freezing and frozen store, Duqm
Landings were being trucked inland for freezing, costing quality and margin. The project put blast freezing at the quay with a frozen holding store behind it.
A 1,100-pallet −30 to −40 °c blast / deep frozen facility in Oman of roughly 5,200 m³, built with ammonia (r717) industrial plant, models at about USD 8,863,939 installed (USD 7,091,151–USD 11,523,120 planning range) and USD 763,054 a year to run, over a 64-week programme from brief to handover. Figures are indicative planning estimates from ColdMatch Group's country cost model — not a quotation.
A senior cold-chain specialist stays with your project from first brief to commissioning.
What was built, and for whom
Coastal / salt-laden air — corrosion-resistant condensers required
~60 generator hours modelled per year
Local band 0.050–0.100 USD/kWh
Zones
- Blast freezing tunnels to −35 °C core, batch-based on landing volumes
- Frozen holding store −25 °C, 1,100 pallets
- Chilled reception and grading area
What a project like this costs in Oman
Derived from the same indicative country cost model used by the public ColdMatch calculators: local construction cost index, design ambient, humidity, grid reliability, diesel price and electricity tariff. Planning-grade estimates, never a quotation.
Planning range USD 7,091,151–USD 11,523,120
USD 1,705 per m³
37% of it is energy
458 kW average refrigeration load
| Envelope, plant, electrical and installation | USD 8,262,672 |
| Standby generation | USD 578,387 |
| Monitoring and alarms | USD 22,880 |
| Total installed | USD 8,863,939 |
| Grid electricity (4,008,927 kWh) | USD 280,625 |
| Standby diesel (6,535 litres) | USD 3,790 |
| Maintenance and spares | USD 297,828 |
| Operations labour (12 staff) | USD 176,400 |
| Monitoring and compliance | USD 4,410 |
| Total per year | USD 763,054 |
Running the same facility on legacy fixed-speed plant models at USD 912,198 a year — about USD 149,145 more, which is the efficiency decision this project turned on.
What made this project difficult in Oman
These are the local realities that change the design, the price and the supplier shortlist.
- Coastal salt-laden air attacks condensers and steelwork
- Landing volumes are irregular — freezing capacity must handle surge days
- Export buyers require documented freezing curves
The decisions that shaped the result
- Marine-grade coated condensers and stainless fixings throughout
- Blast capacity sized on the 90th-percentile landing day, not the mean
- Core-temperature logging per batch, exported as a PDF record
Programme: about 64 weeks from brief to handover
Phases overlap in practice. This sequence shows where the schedule risk sits in this market.
- 1
Brief and feasibility
Weeks 1–3 · 3 weeksProduct, temperature, capacity, site status, electrical supply, budget band and timeline confirmed. ColdMatch reviews the brief and flags missing data before anyone is approached.
- 2
Concept design and RFQ preparation
Weeks 4–7 · 4 weeksZone layout, load estimate, system shortlist and a single bid form so every supplier quotes identical scope, exclusions and assumptions.
- 3
Supplier review and tendering
Weeks 8–13 · 6 weeksSuitable suppliers are approached only after internal approval, then proposals are normalised on scope, energy assumptions, spares, commissioning and warranty.
- 4
Civil works and building envelope
Weeks 14–33 · 20 weeksSlab, drainage, docks and structure, including under-floor heating detail where freezer rooms sit on grade.
- 5
Equipment manufacture and delivery
Weeks 34–49 · 16 weeksPlant and panel manufacture with delivery sequenced to the installation programme.
- 6
Installation and insulation
Weeks 50–59 · 10 weeksPanel erection, refrigeration pipework, electrical installation and controls.
- 7
Commissioning, pull-down and handover
Weeks 60–64 · 5 weeksLeak and pressure testing, staged pull-down, performance verification against the specified duty, operator training, spares handover and documentation.
What the project delivered
- Freezing moved to the quay, cutting time from landing to core temperature
- Export documentation produced automatically per batch
- Corrosion maintenance budgeted rather than discovered in year two
What buyers in this market should take from it
- Blast freezing is a throughput machine — quote it in tonnes per hour, never in m³
- On coastal sites, specify corrosion protection in the RFQ or every bid is different
Tools and market data for Oman
Change the capacity, temperature and system and the numbers above move. These tools use the same country model.
Cold storage project costs and timelines in Oman
How ColdMatch Group works — independent B2B procurement and sourcing platform — ColdMatch Group is an independent B2B procurement and sourcing platform for industrial refrigeration, cold storage and cold-chain projects from USD $250K+, connecting buyers with qualified third-party suppliers, EPC contractors and independent financing providers.
Have a comparable project in Oman?
Submit your product type, temperatures, capacity, site status, power situation, budget band and timeline. David and the ColdMatch team review the brief, structure the RFQ so every supplier quotes the same scope, and approach suitable suppliers only after internal approval.
This is a worked project example built from ColdMatch Group's indicative country cost model — local electricity tariff, design ambient, humidity, grid reliability and construction cost index. It is a planning-grade illustration, not a client transaction, an engineering design or a quotation. Supplier and manufacturer listings on this site are provided for research, transparency and discovery only. ColdMatch Group does not provide automatic buyer-supplier introductions. Every cold chain project request is reviewed manually by David / ColdMatch Group, and supplier introductions are made only after internal approval.
Supplier and manufacturer listings are provided for research, transparency and discovery only. ColdMatch Group does not provide automatic buyer-supplier introductions. Every cold chain project request is reviewed manually by David / ColdMatch Group, and supplier introductions are made only after internal approval.