Keeping Gulf Supply Chains Moving with Multimodal and Overland Solutions

For businesses with cargo moving to, from or through the Gulf, the rules of supply chain planning have fundamentally changed, with land-bridge and multimodal solutions moving from contingency option to operational necessity.

With container flows through the Strait of Hormuz effectively suspended for several months, there has been a fundamental rethink of how supply chains serve the Middle East, and how these are structured.

Alternative gateways: the new entry points for Gulf cargo

Three gateways have emerged as primary alternatives for FCL, LCL and project cargo movements into GCC markets:

Fujairah Port, located on the UAE’s east coast, offers direct integration into the UAE National Railway Network and bonded GCC trucking, making it one of the most operationally efficient alternatives for cargo that previously transited the Strait into the Gulf maritime hubs of Khalifa and Jebel Ali.

AD Ports Group operates Fujairah Terminals, which handles the port’s container and general cargo activities. As the logistics arm of AD Ports Group, Noatum Logistics operates the alternative multimodal overland corridors that keep supply chains across the UAE and the Gulf moving.

As an example, Sohar in Oman supports bonded road movements under seal across the wider Gulf region, providing a southern routing option that keeps cargo well clear of the highest-risk corridors.

Jeddah in Saudi Arabia has become an increasingly important Red Sea gateway for cargo moving onwards into Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE. Using Jeddah avoids additional transshipment exposure and reduces handling requirements, making it particularly effective for cargo where transit time and handling integrity matter, although it is worth noting that additional demand is increasing pressure on both port and road capacity.

All three gateways can be combined with bonded onward trucking across GCC markets to deliver end-to-end multimodal solutions that maintain cargo flow while traditional routes remain unavailable.

The air-road alternative: speed and control when it matters most

For more time-critical or high-value cargo, the disruption to direct airfreight capacity into some Gulf destinations has made pure airfreight increasingly difficult to deploy at scale. The Europe-to-GCC air-road model combines air services into hubs like Abu Dhabi with bonded trucking distribution across the region.

Transit times from major European origins, including London, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, Amsterdam and Istanbul, range from one to six days depending on destination, preferred hub and routing, while offering a meaningfully lower carbon footprint than full airfreight movements across all legs.

Destinations served include the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman, effectively covering the full GCC market from a single air-road solution.

Sea-road for less time-critical freight

For cargo where transit time is less critical, sea-road combinations connecting Mediterranean origins with Fujairah, Khor Fakkan, Jeddah and Sohar, followed by bonded onward trucking, offer a cost-effective alternative to conventional Gulf ocean routing. Transit times on these corridors typically run between 15 and 20 days, with full end-to-end visibility and customs management throughout the movement.

This approach works particularly well for regular, planned cargo flows where shippers can build the adjusted transit time into their supply chain cycle without material disruption to stock availability.

Why Noatum Logistics’ position in this market is different

Most logistics providers are responding to the Hormuz disruption from the outside, moving cargo around a region in which they do not directly operate, relying on agents and local operators to piece together routing solutions across corridors that are new to them.

Noatum Logistics operates from a fundamentally different position. As the logistics arm of AD Ports Group, the UAE’s premier facilitator of trade, industry and logistics, with 34 ports and terminals worldwide including 11 in the UAE, Noatum Logistics has direct operational roots at the heart of the infrastructure now being used to bypass the Strait.

AD Ports Group’s own port assets, Khalifa Port and Fujairah Terminals, are positioned as dual gateways for cargo that previously moved through Hormuz. As noted above, earlier this year, the Group announced the establishment of a consolidated, rail-linked multimodal inland logistics network connecting these ports to dry ports and cargo depots across the UAE, designed explicitly to strengthen corridor resilience and reduce dependence on single gateways.

This is not infrastructure being built in response to the crisis. It is a network that has been in development for years, and which is now directly relevant to the most pressing supply chain challenge in global trade.

For UK and European businesses moving cargo to the Gulf, South Asia or East Africa, working with a partner that has direct presence on some of the key nodes of the new routing architecture is not a marginal advantage. It is a material one.

In-house customs capability: reducing dependency under pressure

One of the less visible but operationally critical aspects of multimodal Gulf routing is customs management. Each mode change, bonded movement and gateway transition requires customs handling, and in a disrupted, fast-moving market, relying on third-party customs agents introduces delay and risk that shippers should avoid.

Noatum Logistics manages customs operations across the region, including destination clearance. This internal capability reduces handover risk, improves operational control and provides greater reliability at exactly the points in the journey where third-party dependency most commonly causes delay.

We help businesses across Europe and globally reroute, replan and maintain cargo continuity through one of the most complex logistics environments in recent memory. With direct operational presence across the UAE and the wider Middle East through AD Ports Group, we have the infrastructure, in-market relationships and multimodal expertise to keep your supply chain moving. Contact our team to discuss your current Gulf routing requirements.