25 января 2024 — 14:00
The German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has opened an overland route through the UAE and Saudi Arabia to avoid clashes with the Houthis in the Gulf of Aden and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. This is reported by the German publication Der Spiegel, according to a number of sources.
Hapag-Lloyd announced the opening of an overland route. The corridor will connect the ports of Jebel Ali in the UAE, Dammam and Jbeil in Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf with the port of Jeddah in the Red Sea. This will avoid clashes with the Houthis, who attack and shell container ships in the Red Sea.
Hapag-Lloyd called it a "convenient emergency solution" until the situation in the Red Sea is normalized.
Hapag-Lloyd did not enter its vessels into the maritime area in the Middle East for several weeks and sent container ships through the south of the African continent. This route is too long, writes Der Spiegel. Because of this, container shipping prices have doubled.
Therefore, the company considered it optimal to open an overland corridor. According to the information posted on the company's website, overland transportation is carried out using trucks and trains. The company did not specify how the cargo will be transported on the overland route through the Arabian Peninsula.