How the Gulf is redrawing its logistics network to bypass Hormuz

New trucking routes across the Arabian desert have become an emergency trade lifeline for Gulf economies trying to bypass the Strait of Hormuz after the US and Israel attacked Iran, stated a report. Highways, rail links and ports in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman are being used to move goods overland as governments and companies adjust to the disruption.

As mentioned in a report in Wall Street Journal, the shift has redrawn parts of the region’s logistics network, moving trade away from the Persian Gulf and towards the Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman. The alternative routes cannot match shipping on cost or capacity, and they do not solve shortages of jet fuel and other energy products, but they are keeping some cargo flowing and providing contingency options as US-Iran talks remain deadlocked, it said.

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At Saudi Arabian state-controlled mining company Maaden, chief executive Bob Wilt sent executives to Red Sea ports after the attacks and, within two weeks, arranged rail and truck operations to move fertilisers across the kingdom, the report stated. The operation relied on large numbers of trucks running almost round the clock with two drivers each. As the effort expanded, Wilt told the American newspaper: "Six hundred became 1,600, became 2,000; now we’ve got 3,500 trucks running from the Gulf to the Red Sea."

Shipping groups including MSC and Maersk are also using overland routes across the Arabian peninsula. In one example, UAE supermarket chain Spinneys sent trucks carrying British foods, including potato chips, porridge oats and children’s snacks, on a 16-day journey from Kent through western Europe, then Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to Dubai. 

According to the report, Etihad Rail Freight also moved hundreds of Nissan vehicles from Fujairah on the UAE’s eastern coast to Abu Dhabi on the Persian Gulf in the country’s first vehicle movement by train.

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Moreover, Saudi Aramco has relied heavily on its East-West pipeline to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, while the UAE has pushed more crude through Fujairah. Both countries are looking at ways to expand these links, alongside proposals for new rail lines and bigger port infrastructure.

In the UAE, the smaller port of Khor Fakkan has become a key outlet. Truck traffic at the Gulf of Oman port has risen to 7,000 vehicles a day from 100 before the conflict. Weekly container traffic has jumped from 2,000 to 50,000 as the port shifted from acting mainly as a transshipment hub to functioning as a gateway port, with containers leaving by truck for warehouses, factories and shops. Its operator, Gulftainer, hired 900 people in two weeks, reassigned customer service staff as gate officers and yard managers, and opened a new truck marshalling yard to sort and dispatch cargo.