Ports Giant DP World Redraws Hormuz Logistics With Truck Bet

By Patrick Sykes

Sep 14, 2026 (Bloomberg) –Ports giant DP World is expanding its overland logistics network in a bet that shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — vital for its flagship container and industrial hub in the United Arab Emirates — won’t return to the status quo from before the US-Iran war.

The Dubai-based firm plans to grow its truck fleet by about 40% and add new land routes to diversify supply chains linking Europe, the US and Asia to the Persian Gulf, Chief Operating Officer for Freight Forwarding Europe Stephen Whittingham told Bloomberg in an interview.

“I think we’ll never get back to the original normal,” Whittingham said. “There’s always going to be a level of uncertainty that exists now around this this geography, and so I think having options is really where DP World has said we’re going to be able to mitigate risk.”

The comments underline how the Iran war’s shock to global supply chains is likely to outlast the conflict itself, as countries and companies alike seek to reduce their dependence on the highly contested waterway. The diversification drive also aligns with the UAE’s aim to cut its reliance on the strait to zero.

Read More: Hormuz Halt Rewires Trade to Turn Desert Roads Into Vital Links

Within days of Iran closing the strait, DP World launched a road service from western Europe to the Gulf through Turkey that currently handles as many as 50 trucks per week, Whittingham said. Most of the cargo demand is for automotive parts and everyday consumer products, he added.

As an example, a one-way trip from Amsterdam to Dubai via Turkey would be a 6,700 kilometer (4,160 mile) journey.

DP World also set up hybrid sea-and-road services for shipments from Asia and the US, also via Turkey.

The company now wants to grow its fleet of trucks to 1,000 from 700 currently that provide a “land bridge” within the region to ports outside the Persian Gulf like Fujairah in the UAE, Salalah in Oman and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, he said.

DP World operates ports and terminals in 84 countries from China to South America, but had to briefly suspend operations at its Jebel Ali facility in the UAE due to debris from an intercepted Iranian attack.

Before the conflict, Jebel Ali was the busiest container port outside of Asia, ranking in the top 10 globally and serving mostly as a transshipment hub integrated with one of the world’s largest industrial free zones. 

But Jebel Ali reportedly saw a nearly 60% drop in volumes during the first half of the year from a year earlier, according to Alphaliner data, pushing it down to 32nd biggest by volumes in the world.

On new routes, the next target is to bring cargo over land from Europe to Iraq then load it onto ships to cross the Gulf to the UAE. Talks with authorities in Baghdad for a “permanent service” are ongoing, Whittingham said.

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All that diversification comes at a cost. Shipping goods from Europe to the Gulf via land is typically three to four times more expensive than sea, he said. 

But he expects some customers to continue to use the service even once Hormuz re-opens. 

“I don’t think it’s going to go away completely,” he said, adding that even now, customers often find pure truck services more reliable than multimodal ones amid disruptions to shipping from the Black Sea to the Middle East. 

“If you needed a truck tomorrow, you could get a truck tomorrow.”

DP World is also investing in its ports network, most notably with plans announced in July to develop two new deepwater terminals on the UAE’s eastern coast – outside the strait. 

Read More: DP World to Build UAE Container Gateway Outside of Hormuz 

It’s also committed around $800 million to terminal upgrades at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Tartus on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, both of which would link to the trucking networks.

Funding for such projects received a boost last week when the company sold $1.6 billion in bonds. 

“DP World’s strong liquidity provides a substantial buffer against prolonged Middle East disruption,” Bloomberg Intelligence Credit Analyst Sharon Chen wrote in a note on Thursday. The bond deal “demonstrates continued funding access, albeit at a sizable spread premium.”

© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.

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