Shipping costs to the Gulf jump fivefold amid surcharges and rerouting
Key Facts
Shipping rates and related costs for transporting goods to the Gulf have risen to around three to five times their previous levels following disruption to maritime routes, the UAE National Association of Freight and Logistics said in remarks reported by Gulf News on 2 October 2026. The association said the figure covers the broader logistics bill, not just the basic ocean freight rate. It said the basic rate had not increased by the same amount. It attributed a major part of the increase to surcharges related to war risks, emergencies, fuel and rerouting. Changing routes has also added customs clearance, road transport and fuel costs to cargo movements, it said. The cost of reaching the Gulf is now shaped by a mix of freight charges, overland journey expenses and vessel space availability.
Ahmed Abdel Razzaq, the association’s vice chairman and general manager of Maltrans Emirates, said road transport costs had risen significantly, without specifying a percentage or amount. The association said some shipments arrived at Khor Fakkan and Fujairah, while others were unloaded at the Omani ports of Sohar and Salalah. Some goods can be transported overland from these ports to UAE destinations such as Jebel Ali. These routes provide alternative gateways when shipments cannot reach their usual destinations directly. But multiple unloading points add customs clearance, road transport and fuel to the bill, while costs vary between Gulf ports depending on the route and available services.
Expeditors said in an operational update dated 30 September 2026 that congestion in Jeddah had led several carriers to limit or suspend delivery to the upper Gulf via the land bridge, while Khor Fakkan and Fujairah remained alternative options. The company said overland delays after cargo was unloaded in Jeddah remained at around 10 to 12 days. It attributed the restrictions to the route through Jeddah and did not extend them to all carriers or shipments. By contrast, it said full truckload services to GCC destinations were available from Jeddah, Sohar, Salalah and active UAE ports. It also offers container transport by truck from Khor Fakkan to GCC countries. These options show that alternative routes do not eliminate the impact of congestion on delivery times.
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development data reflect the scale of the shift in regional shipping during 2024. Ship tonnage arriving in the Gulf of Aden fell 76%, while the number of vessels transiting the Suez Canal declined 70% in June 2024 compared with the mid-December 2023 average. The organization said rerouting ships around the Cape of Good Hope increased global demand for ships by 3% and for container ships by 12% in June 2024, compared with what would have occurred without the route changes. This indicates that diversions consume additional fleet capacity and add pressure to vessel availability. The figures come amid broader disruption to maritime corridors, while the association directly linked the Gulf shipping bill to surcharges, fuel, customs clearance, road transport and rerouting.
In the tanker market, S&P Global Energy said very large crude carrier rates had risen since the start of the war by 274% on the Brazil-to-Asia route and 260% on the U.S. Gulf-to-Asia route, driven by route disruption and risk premiums. The company said average daily transits through the Strait of Hormuz stood at 21 in September 2026, compared with 135 before the war. These figures put the tanker market in the context of maritime pressures, but do not in themselves identify the cause of higher land transport costs to the Gulf. The company’s analysts said they expect tanker rates to continue rising as the winter demand season approaches and tensions in the Middle East remain elevated. For the cost of transporting goods to the Gulf, the association said prices had not yet fallen from their recent peaks. A return to normal maritime routes would help lower transport costs and surcharges, it added, without specifying when.