Major ocean carriers are offering land-based solutions for cargo going to and from the war-hit Persian Gulf, with the only ocean entry point via the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed to shipping.
Maersk is delivering Gulf-bound cargo to ports in the region for onward transport by another mode.
“We are using Salalah [Oman] and Khor Fakkan [UAE] for cargo that comes from the east and are securing trucking capacity to take it into the Gulf,” said Maersk CCO Karsten Kildahl. “For cargo that comes from Europe, we focus mainly on Jeddah [on the Red Sea] and are deploying trucks to take the cargo 1,500 km across the Arabian Peninsula through the desert.”
Mediterranean Shipping Co. is using its Asia-Mediterranean Dragon and Jade services to move cargo inland to the Persian Gulf via King Abdullah and Jeddah ports in Saudi Arabia. Key inland destinations in the Gulf include Damman, Riyadh, Jubail, Bahrain, Kuwait, Hamad, Jebel Ali and Abu Dhabi.
CMA CGM has reopened its export bookings with immediate effect from Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and is deploying multimodal solutions around feeder ships and trucking.
Options include carrier haulage from Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain via bonded landbridge to Sohar in Oman. From the UAE, solutions are CMA CGM land bridge to Sohar and trucks from Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Dammam via bonded landbridge across Saudia Arabia to Jeddah.
In general for Asia-Europe needs, DHL Global Forwarding said customer enquiries for both road and rail solutions “have risen notably” as reliability improves and shippers look for alternatives to higher cost air freight.
“To address these needs, DHL Global Forwarding is working continuously on more alternative and multimodal transport concepts that further strengthen connectivity between Asia and Europe,” a DHL spokesperson said, declining to provide volume figures.
Rising demand for Asia-Europe land transport
Forwarders are reporting rising demand for road and rail transport from Asia to Europe as transit times and reliability improve and cross-border procedures become more predictable.
Transit times for road from China to Europe are between 12 and 19 days, while rail freight transits are 10 to 25 days. Rates from Chinese terminals to European terminals are volatile and vary from week to week, influenced by demand, bottlenecks on the Poland-Belarus border, and disruption in ocean shipping.
An automotive shipper based in Europe said trucking solutions out of Asia had matured and currently offered better pricing than in the past.
Details please refer to the JOC news.
Source: JOC