LONDON: Shipping giant Maersk is maintaining food and medicine supply lines via alternative land-bridge routes in the Gulf that still have some spare capacity despite the Iran war, its regional head told Reuters on Thursday.
The war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran last month, followed by Iranian attacks across the region and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, has brought shipping in the Gulf to a near standstill, rippling across global supply chains.
Danish container shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk is using a “land-bridge” system via ports in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, Salalah and Sohar in Oman and Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates, to funnel in cargo before moving it by land to destinations across the Gulf region.
Charles van der Steene, Dubai-based regional managing director for the Middle East, said Maersk was ramping up the network and coordinating with Gulf governments, which have introduced faster procedures to speed deliveries.
While it is prioritising critical goods, namely food and medicines, there is still capacity to spare on these alternative routes, he added.
