Forwarders will gain as Europe accelerates global trade agreements, says DHL
Opportunities are in the offing for forwarders and logistics operators, as the EU and the ...
Deal or no deal, logistics operators are expanding their Gulf land bridge offerings with DHL, GWC, and Oman Air Cargo all pumping further capacity into the region as shocks from the US/Israeli war against Iran continue to be felt across global supply chains.
Oman Air Cargo this week launched a new daily Road Feeder Service (RFS) between Muscat and Dubai, with Qatar-based Gulf Warehousing Company (GWC) introducing a TIR-powered air-to-land logistics corridor for the Gulf.
Speaking to The Loadstar on Wednesday, DHL Express’ chief executive officer for Europe, Mike Parra, said that he too has noted a marked uptick in demand for the company’s regional road freight connectivity in the Gulf.
“With what has happened in the Middle East, with all the uncertainty, and with the Strait of Hormuz closure, we have seen a real necessity to leverage not only our heavyweight express product, but to leverage our network,” said Mr Parra.
“When you have the network we have in the Middle East, on the ground and in the air, and have our capability to pivot – for instance from Bahrain to Muscat and Riyadh, which we did – and our road network in Europe, you become the logistics supplier of choice.”
DHL may have been one of the early leaders on this pivot to the new Gulf overland trade corridor, but its rapid maturation into an established corridor in just four short months was made possible by determined and speedy work from regional governments.
Saudi-based Flow Progressive Logistics’ chief executive Achraf Ellili noted that every authority contributed to have the entire ecosystem working together, “meaning things that we thought would take ages to happen have happened in 47 days”.
Praising the rapid collaboration between GCC countries to improve the customs and border crossing processes for trucks, Saudi Automobile & Touring Association executive manager Hasan Almanasif called for operators to “take advantage” of the opportunity.
Oman Air Cargo’s launch of its new RFS heeds that call, with the service set to support growing trade flows between the UAE and Oman by trucking goods each way, while also providing customers caught in the chaos options for alternative routings.
Head of cargo for the carrier, Michael Duggan, said: “This new service creates greater flexibility for cargo movement between Dubai and Muscat by complementing traditional air freight operations and enabling the transport of a wider range of cargo types.
“As regional supply chains continue to evolve, Oman Air Cargo remains focused on delivering reliable, customer-centric transport solutions that support trade across the Middle East.”
Nor is the carrier alone in tapping up the opportunity – and it is a massive one with demand for RFSs surging 30% in the first three weeks of the war – with GWS’ new service, in which it uses its network to coordinate services from regional providers.
Of course, the route’s long-term prospects continue to be challenged, with expectations that when the war definitively ends, carriers and shippers will revert to their traditional approaches, but hopes of a speedy resolution to the conflict continue to be dashed.
Earlier today, news broke that just before boarding a plane to fly to negotiations US vice president JD Vance would no longer be attending the summit in Switzerland as talks had been abandoned.
The reason for this cancellation has not yet been made public, but despite the ceasefire MoU signed on Wednesday stressing that attacks on Lebanon by the US and Israel were to halt immediately, Israeli forces have persisted.
Indeed, those strikes began almost simultaneously with the news that President Trump had signed the MoU, prompting one forwarder to tell The Loadstar, “How fucking long [was that]?” in reference to the length of time in which hostilities were paused.
Such chaos offers the landbridge long-term prospects. Mr Ellili noted that with shippers having now experienced the route’s reliability, he expected them to “keep a percentage of their volumes moving this way now that it has been stress tested at scale”.
“It is optionally now viable. Shippers require a dual corridor strategy and the GCC is now able to offer this. Jebel Ali will remain world class, but it’ll no longer be the only gateway. This new one has been stress-tested it is there, and it is complementary,” he said.
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