The world’s largest container shipping company plans a new service linking Europe to isolated ports in the Middle East, using road transport through Saudi Arabia and smaller vessels in the Persian Gulf, instead of transiting the Strait of Hormuz, which is blocked.
MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co. S.A., in a statement released on Saturday, said the first voyage will be on May 10, departing from Antwerp, in a circuit that also includes stops in Germany, Italy, Lithuania, and Spain. The ships will sail through the Suez Canal toward the Red Sea and will visit two ports on the western coast of Saudi Arabia: Jeddah and King Abdullah.
From there, the network uses trucks to reach Dammam, on the eastern coast of the peninsula, where feeder vessels connect to maritime ports, including Abu Dhabi and Jebel Ali, in Dubai. Both have large industrial zones with hundreds of multinational companies that rely on containerized cargo, which previously circulated freely through the Strait of Hormuz.
Traffic through the strait has been severely restricted since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, with little sign that it will reopen soon. This prolonged closure is forcing shipping companies to chart land routes that take longer, cost more, and emit more carbon.
Ports near the strait, in Oman and on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates, are also seeing an increase in diverted containers, which requires greater road transport capacity.
Hapag-Lloyd AG, based in Hamburg, announced in March the creation of land transport routes in Saudi Arabia and Oman. A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, based in Copenhagen, also announced multimodal “land bridge” solutions for cargo across the region.
In a statement, MSC, headquartered in Geneva, said the offering is a response to growing demand amid the “challenging Middle East outlook.” The route from Jeddah to Dammam — a corridor that passes through the capital Riyadh — covers about 1,300 kilometers (800 miles).
MSC’s feeder ships would also reach Bahrain, Iraq and Kuwait.
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