News / Gulf haulage capacity stretched as Oman becomes staging post amid 'safe port' diversions

Gulf haulage capacity is being squeezed as forwarders grapple with carrier-designated “safe port” calls, a practice that is increasingly positioning Oman as a critical staging hub for regional distribution and onward European flows.

What began as an emergency scenario in the immediate aftermath of the Israeli/US strikes on Iran is becoming standard practice, with forwarders and other stakeholders frequently unsure of where their containers will end up.

Translog Overseas told The Loadstar that it presently had 280 containers affected that had been destined for Hamad and Jebel Ali ports, with the team still in the process of working out how to get them to their final destination.

Ocean freight traffic manager for the Spanish forwarder, Sara Viviani, told The Loadstar: “As vessels are unable to cross Hormuz, carriers are unloading Gulf-destined containers mainly in nearby Ports such as Khor Fakkan, Sohar, Salalah or even Jeddah.

“Most cargo is being sent to adjacent ports in the region, though, such as Sohar or Salalah in Oman or Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, with the UAE’s Khor Fakkan playing an important role even if few carriers are offering it because it is a minor port.”

For those containers lucky enough to make it to terminals in the Gulf, forwarders are turning to haulage operators to drive boxes to either their intended GCC destinations or to airports where they can find capacity for onward transit.

While Ms Viviani said that containers were “mainly” being discharged at nearby ports, there has been no real uniformity in practice from the shipping lines in this respect, one forwarder noting their Saudi-destined boxes had been “left in Egypt”.

“From our perspective it very much feels like the carriers are operating with a ‘don’t care mentality’ as far as their customers are concerned and we are being left to ask, ‘what am I supposed to do with this now,” one forwarder told The Loadstar.

“We are getting a lot of support from other forwarders when boxes end up where they should not be, but we are increasingly seeing Oman becoming a staging post for the Gulf countries,” a fact that another forwarder said was putting pressure on haulage operators in the region.

The Loadstar previously reported an episode of Dubai-bound cargo that had been discharged in Qingdao – “very much at the start of its journey” – with a Thailand-based forwarder noting that they were being called on to provide trucking operations to find a route through.

Ms Viviani said that as the situation stands, forwarders are facing “two different scenarios,” the first being the need to seek a resolution for the cargo that had already departed when the conflict started and was in transit to the different ports and airports of destination.

“The second being for the new cargo that we need to get in or out of the GCC states. In both cases we are facing changes in routes from the shipping lines and the airlines, and we need to adapt every day to the updates so we can offer the best service for our partners,” she added.

“For the cargo that was already in transit to destination, some cargo moved by air got stuck for a few days at transit airports, but in the last weeks, airlines have managed to deliver to the final destinations as the air transit has been restored, even if under different circumstances.”