Dubai-based ports operator DP World has acquired 700 lorries to expand its road freight network across the Gulf region, as alternative routes emerge to deal with the Strait of Hormuz disruption.
The fleet will add up to 35,000 trips per month, supporting both domestic and cross-border trucking for DP World’s customer base in the Gulf, DP World said on Thursday. The company's current network fleet capacity is at around 3,000 lorry movements per day across the region.
The extra fleet will cater to first, middle and last mile requirements and support the movement of containerised and non-containerised cargo.
“This is a long-term investment in our multimodal network and the customers that trade in the GCC," said Ahmad Al-Hassan, chief executive and managing director of DP World GCC.
"As regional demand grows, we are scaling our capabilities to provide customers with an integrated network.”
Logistics providers in the UAE and the wider Gulf region have rapidly expanded into alternative routes following the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran war, which began on February 28.
Heavy goods vehicles are now used far more extensively in the UAE to collect everything from supermarket staples to industrial goods from Oman and Saudi Arabia and to send out manufactured items.
The Dubai government also set up a 'green corridor' with Oman, which redirects global shipments arriving through Oman, transporting them overland to Dubai through the Hatta Border Crossing using accelerated customs procedures.
The number of customs declarations surged from 12,000 in March to nearly 100,000 in April, with the value of transported goods up from Dh1 billion ($272 million) to more than Dh8 billion, officials said in May.
Sharjah and Oman also launched a logistics corridor in May to move goods by sea and land more easily, primarily through the Khatmat Malaha Border Crossing in Kalba and the Al Madam border point.
The arrangement allows goods to cross borders easily, bound for Oman's Sohar port on the east coast, as well as Duqm and Salalah.
DP World has also established a bonded corridor from Sohar in Oman and made use of Red Sea routing options through Jeddah Islamic Port’s South Container Terminal, routing more than 350,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) overland following maritime disruption, it said on Thursday.
Bonded corridors are customs-controlled routes that allow freight to move freely and quickly between ports and free zones.
The company in recent months has also opened fast-track bonded corridors connecting east coast gateways directly into Jebel Ali Port.
The new lorries DP World has acquired are being deployed progressively across operations, it said.
“Our customers want certainty, reliability, efficiency and more sustainable supply chain solutions," said Raveen Guliani, chief operating officer of logistics at DP World GCC.
"These new trucks are fuel-efficient and meet the Euro V emissions standard and we will explore green-energy vehicles in the future.”
