Hormuz blockade sees alternative land routes opening for trade

Al Jazeera - The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is reshaping trade routes with container ship traffic now using land routes to reach destinations, the AFP news agency reports.

The blockade of the strait has pushed ship owners to find alternative land corridors to deliver foodstuffs and manufactured goods by truck, as they can no longer reach the Gulf’s coastal countries by sea, according to logistics and maritime sources.

According to the AFP, the Saudi port of Jeddah on the Red Sea is becoming a new regional “hub”, where ships from maritime giants MSC, CMA CGM, Maersk and Cosco arrive via the Suez Canal.

Cargo then leaves by truck along a desert highway to deliver to places such as Sharjah, Bahrain and Kuwait, which have not been served by sea for the past two months.

“The port of Jeddah is not at all sized to handle such import volumes and a port congestion situation is emerging,” said Arthur Barillas de The, cofounder of freight forwarder Ovrsea.

Shipowners have said they will also use three ports outside the Strait of Hormuz – Oman’s Sohar, and the UAE ports of Khor Fakkan and Fujairah. The port of Aqaba in Jordan serves as a base for sending goods to Baghdad and Basra in Iraq, while a Turkish corridor is also allowing goods into northern Iraq, according to the report.