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The Gulf, November 2026.

The strait is shut
Since the strikes on Iran on 28 February the container lines have not sent their ships through Hormuz; a few small feeders still run it, ad hoc. October was the worst month: attacks every week, a container ship sunk on 13 October. No ceasefire, no reopening date.
How a box reaches the Gulf this week
Dubai: it lands at Khor Fakkan or Fujairah on the east coast and comes in by bonded truck, two to three hours of road. Jebel Ali is open; the ships are missing, the boxes arrive by road, and it is still where Dubai clears. Saudi: Jeddah on the Red Sea, then road, a day to Riyadh, two to Dammam; polymers go out through Jeddah and Yanbu. Oman: Sohar and Salalah work normally; Sohar to Dubai is half a day plus the border. Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait: feeder from Sharjah or road from Jeddah; one to three extra weeks.
The numbers on these pages
Are 2023 and 2024, the last normal years: the size of a lane, not how cargo moves this week. The Red Sea is the opposite story: the lines are going back through Suez, about half of normal in October, so Europe is getting faster while the Gulf is not.

This year Six countries

United Arab Emirates
Since the start of March, Dubai's boxes land at Khor Fakkan or Fujairah and come in by sealed truck; Jebel Ali's volumes fell by more than half in the first half of 2026.
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah became the Gulf's back door and reports record box volumes; the giga-projects were cut back in February to put the 2034 World Cup and Expo 2030 first.
Oman
Cargo for the whole Gulf lands in Oman; Sohar's cargo rose by half and its boxes by 40 percent in the first half of 2026, most of it transhipment.
Qatar
No port outside the strait, so 2026 hit Qatar hardest; imports come by sea to Oman or the UAE and then by road through Saudi, two borders. The North Field gas expansion still brings project cargo.
Bahrain
Hit from March 2026; boxes now come over the causeway from Saudi.
Kuwait
Since March 2026 Kuwait has been fed by road across Saudi from Jeddah, the length of the country, and by feeder from Salalah or Khor Fakkan.