Middle East land bridge offers 'express' solution to extended shipping transits

As shippers and forwarders consider a switch to sea-air and airfreight solutions in response to the Cape detours resulting from the Red Sea crisis, another alternative has emerged – a land bridge across the Middle East.

Israeli digital freight marketplace Trucknet Enterprise has teamed up with UAE-based PureTrans, which operates a landline transit network, its partner, DP World, Cox Logistics (Bahrain) and Egypt-based logistics firm WWCS to provide trucking services connecting the Dubai port of Jebel Ali and the port of Mina Salman, in Bahrain.

It goes via Saudi Arabia and Jordan to Haifa in Israel and Port Said in Egypt, from where cargo can continue to Europe and beyond.

Trucknet markets the land bridge as an ‘express’ service, claiming it shortens ocean shipping routes by 10 days.

Normally, a box ship’s journey from the UAE to Haifa takes about two weeks, given that its itinerary usually includes calls at ports en route to unload or load cargo. With the land bridge, a container unloaded at Jebel Ali and transferred to a truck can be in Haifa in only four days.

But the cost is around 15-20% more expensive, estimated Trucknet CEO Hanan Fridman. But he added that the company’s focus on reducing the number of trucks returning empty to the UAE from Israel provided some scope to lower shipping costs.

And he said, taking into account the hikes in ocean freight rates due to the re-routing of ships around Africa and resulting longer transit times, the land bridge could likely be a cheaper option.