By: OrePulse

DP World has moved more than one million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers from the United Arab Emirates’ east coast ports to Jebel Ali and other domestic markets by road and rail since early March, as land corridors continue to carry cargo during ongoing disruption in the Strait of Hormuz.

The Dubai-based ports operator said it is now handling roughly 3,500 TEUs a day through these inland routes, supported by a managed trucking fleet of more than 3,000 vehicles, including 700 that DP World owns outright.

Shehab Mohamad Aljasmi, chief commercial officer for ports and terminals at DP World GCC, said the trucking operation had been built up from the ground up to move containers arriving at ports outside the Strait through customs-controlled corridors to Jebel Ali for clearance, storage and onward distribution. Additional capacity runs through Oman’s Sohar and Duqm ports and through Jeddah, giving shippers further options for reaching UAE and Gulf markets.

Aljasmi said Jebel Ali Port itself has stayed open throughout the crisis, with total disruption limited to six hours since it began. The port serves more than 80 weekly services calling at 150 destinations worldwide and has annual capacity of 19.4 million TEUs; it handled 15.6 million TEUs in 2025. New infrastructure — including the Jebel Ali Rail Terminal, a 100,000-square-metre empty-container depot at Al Awir, and an Etihad Rail connection linking Jebel Ali to the national railway — has helped shift some volumes from road to rail and ease pressure on the corridor.

Dubai Customs and its Omani counterpart activated a “Green Corridor” within 72 hours of the crisis beginning, allowing sealed trucks to move containers directly to Jebel Ali under customs supervision. DP World said the corridor has carried trade worth about 34 billion UAE dirhams between March 1 and June 30.

Fujairah terminals brought forward

DP World has also accelerated construction of its two Fujairah terminals, now targeting a phased opening in 18 to 24 months rather than the 24 to 30 months previously projected. The Al Rugaylat container and multi-purpose terminal and the Dibba general cargo terminal are being built under a 50-year concession representing an investment of about 2.5 billion dirhams.

Al Rugaylat, near Fujairah International Airport, is designed to handle approximately 2.5 million TEUs a year alongside 1.7 million tonnes of general cargo and 190,000 car-equivalent units; Dibba will add up to 3.6 million tonnes of annual general cargo capacity. Once both are operational, DP World’s UAE container-handling capacity will rise from 19.4 million to almost 22 million TEUs, with Al Rugaylat providing a deep-water berth for ultra-large container vessels. Both new terminals will also connect to Jebel Ali and Jafza through DP World’s inland logistics network, extending the reach of the same road-and-rail system that has absorbed cargo diverted from the Strait this year.

Aljasmi described the two terminals as part of an integrated network allowing cargo to use whichever gateway best fits its destination, adding that the strategy is meant to support trade flows over the long term regardless of whether Strait of Hormuz traffic is fully restored.

Jafza occupancy near capacity

Jebel Ali Free Zone, which hosts more than 12,000 companies across roughly 57 square kilometers, is running at above 90% occupancy across its asset classes — 94% for land and 99% for warehouses — with office occupancy at its highest level in a decade. The free zone attracted more than 1 billion dirhams in new investment during the first half of 2026.

DP World’s other regional projects are also continuing. Its South Container Terminal at Jeddah Islamic Port recorded record monthly throughput in both July and October following an expansion that lifted annual capacity to 4 million TEUs, and the company is preparing to open a $250 million logistics park in Jeddah in the first quarter of 2027. Development also continues at the Al Rawdah Special Economic Zone near the Oman-UAE border.

Aljasmi said DP World has not suspended any major regional investment project. He said future priorities include pre-agreed cross-border protocols, pre-arrival cargo data exchange and permanent transport links intended to speed up and secure trade movements.