After disruptions tied to the U.S.-Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, DP World is expanding overland logistics and financing port upgrades to reduce reliance on the contested waterway.
The Dubai-based firm plans to grow its truck fleet by about 40% and add new land routes to diversify supply chains linking Europe, the U.S.
and Asia to the Persian Gulf, Chief Operating Officer for Freight Forwarding Europe Stephen Whittingham told Bloomberg in an interview.
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# What changed DP World is reshaping how cargo reaches the Persian Gulf after the U.S.-Iran war and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The company is moving resources into overland trucking, hybrid sea-road services and port projects outside the strait to keep trade flowing between Europe, the U.S., Asia and the Gulf.
# What DP World is doing now
DP World has held talks with Iraqi authorities to create a permanent Europe-to-Iraq land route where cargo would then be shipped across the Gulf to the UAE.
# Costs and customer behavior Moving containers over land is more expensive than sea. DP World estimates land transit costs three to four times more than traditional sea routes. Despite the price gap, the company expects some customers will keep using overland services for reliability and speed. DP World notes that pure truck services can be more reliable than multimodal options when maritime corridors face disruption.
# Port investments and financing DP World is investing to reduce dependence on the Strait of Hormuz. It announced plans to build two deepwater terminals on the UAE's eastern coast, outside the strait. The company is committing roughly $800 million to upgrade terminals at Jeddah and Tartus, which will link into the expanded trucking networks.
To support these moves, DP World completed a $1.6 billion bond sale. Bloomberg Intelligence highlighted the bond deal as evidence of funding access and said the firm's liquidity provides a buffer against prolonged Middle East disruption.
# What happened at Jebel Ali
# Why this matters for shippers and routes The changes reflect a broader shift: companies are reducing single-route dependency and accepting higher transport costs to manage geopolitical risk. DP World's strategy blends expanded trucking capacity, multimodal services and targeted port upgrades to offer alternatives when maritime routes through Hormuz are unavailable or risky.
# Bottom line DP World is treating the closure of Hormuz as a structural change rather than a temporary disruption. That means bigger truck fleets, new overland corridors, hybrid services and port investments—backed by recent bond financing—to give shippers more routing choices, at a higher cost, until maritime risk eases.
The Dubai-based firm plans to grow its truck fleet by about 40% and add new land routes to diversify supply chains linking Europe, the U.S. and Asia to the Persian Gulf.
The closure of the Hormuz Straits, now approaching its eighth month, has been predicted to lead to the permanent loss transhipment traffic for the Gulf’s two largest container facilities, Jebel Ali and Khalifa. Prior to the outbreak of the US-Israel-Iran conflict, the two UAE ports were a favoured waypoint for relay tr
A new shuttling system is reshaping the Middle East oil market, as producers seek to keep exports flowing despite the escalating regional conflict. The question now is whether this complex, expensive process is a stopgap measure or the global…
Inland routes offer a stable alternative to heavily utilized routes, APM Terminals Mobile managing director Brian Harold told Supply Chain Dive.
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