News / Middle East land bridge offers 'express' solution to extended shipping transits

As shippers and forwarders consider a switch to sea-air and airfreight solutions in response to the Cape detours resulting from the Red Sea crisis, another alternative has emerged – a land bridge across the Middle East.

Israeli digital freight marketplace Trucknet Enterprise has teamed up with UAE-based PureTrans, which operates a landline transit network, its partner, DP World, Cox Logistics (Bahrain) and Egypt-based logistics firm WWCS to provide trucking services connecting the Dubai port of Jebel Ali and the port of Mina Salman, in Bahrain.

It goes via Saudi Arabia and Jordan to Haifa in Israel and Port Said in Egypt, from where cargo can continue to Europe and beyond.

Trucknet markets the land bridge as an ‘express’ service, claiming it shortens ocean shipping routes by 10 days.

Normally, a box ship’s journey from the UAE to Haifa takes about two weeks, given that its itinerary usually includes calls at ports en route to unload or load cargo. With the land bridge, a container unloaded at Jebel Ali and transferred to a truck can be in Haifa in only four days.

But the cost is around 15-20% more expensive, estimated Trucknet CEO Hanan Fridman. But he added that the company’s focus on reducing the number of trucks returning empty to the UAE from Israel provided some scope to lower shipping costs.

And he said, taking into account the hikes in ocean freight rates due to the re-routing of ships around Africa and resulting longer transit times, the land bridge could likely be a cheaper option.

A spokesperson for Trucknet told The Loadstar:“Demand for the land bridge has increased. Many shippers from Israel, Europe, and the US are turning to us for help.”

However, the obvious drawback is the service’s limited capacity compared with ships. But a source said if swift and safe transit could be guaranteed, it would certainly appeal to the market, especially to shippers of time-sensitive goods who would probably be willing to pay the additional cost.

Meanwhile, ocean carrier Hapag Lloyd recently informed customers it was now offering inland solutions in Saudi Arabia for “Red Sea connectivity”, as it continued to address the impact of the Suez Canal situation.

It said: “We are introducing land service corridors from Jebel Ali, Dammam and Jubail to Jeddah. This will enable the connection with our ocean shuttle service out of Jeddah. While this is not the optimal solution in terms of capacity, it will offer another option to the current transit times, especially where alternative routings become excessively long.”

The carrier is already looking to expand its inland network within the Gulf Co-operation Council, which comprises Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.