Convoys of heavy-duty trucks barreling across the Arabian desert have become an escape valve for the global economy, according to a Wall Street Journal report published on Wednesday.
In a mechanized revival of the caravans of goods-laden camels that once sustained Arabian commerce, highways, railroads and ports in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman have been transformed into an emergency logistics lifeline, circumventing the Strait of Hormuz waterway, WSJ said.
It said after the US and Israel attacked Iran, Bob Wilt, CEO of Saudi Arabian state-controlled mining company Maaden, dispatched executives to Red Sea ports and, within two weeks, lined up rail and truck operators to move fertilizer from the Gulf to Red Sea ports.
The key ingredient: Lots of trucks, mostly running around the clock, with two drivers each.
“Six hundred became 1,600, became 2,000; now we’ve got 3,500 trucks running from the Gulf to the Red Sea,” Wilt told WSJ.
Maryland-born Wilt said Maaden will have caught up on its export backlog by the end of May.
“Whether I truly believed we could do it or not, I don’t know,” he said. The drive is making a meaningful dent in a fertilizer shortage that is threatening the global food supply.
The trucking routes are part of a broader redrawing of the regional logistics map, reorienting trade away from the Arabian Gulf and providing governments and companies with critical contingencies.
Shipping companies including MSC and Maersk are trucking goods across the Arabian Peninsula.
Also, supermarket chain Spinneys sent trucks loaded with British foods—including potato chips, porridge oats and children’s snacks—on a 16-day journey from Kent in the UK through Western Europe and then Egypt and Saudi Arabia to Dubai.
The trucking convoys are the latest example of ways the global economy has shown surprising resilience in the face of war-related shocks.
While the region’s most important exports—oil and natural gas—have fallen sharply, a substantial amount continues to ship to global markets through backup routes.
Saudi Aramco has leaned heavily on its East-West pipeline to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, while the UAE has pushed more crude through Fujairah.
Both countries are exploring ways to expand the capacity of these oil links. Other proposals include building new rail lines and expanding port infrastructure around the region, according to the WSJ report.
Meanwhile, the smaller port of Khor Fakkan has become an unexpected lifeline for the Emirates.
Now it has become a gateway port, with incoming containers leaving the port by truck, passing through gates and customs and reaching warehouses, factories or shops.
Weekly container traffic at the port exploded from 2,000 to 50,000 since the start of the conflict.
For Maaden’s Wilt, the crisis has been a test of whether the company can deliver on a global stage.
Saudi Arabia has directed Maaden to expand production of phosphates, gold and aluminum, with plans to invest $110 billion over the next decade.
It also plays a large role in making Saudi Arabia the world’s third-largest exporter of phosphate, which is mined, processed into granules and shipped—in normal times—through the strait.
“We’ve demonstrated our capabilities,” Wilt said. “Let’s harden this and always have a route to the Red Sea.”
