The world’s largest container carrier plans a new service linking Europe with isolated Middle East ports, using trucking across Saudi Arabia and smaller vessels in the Persian Gulf instead of transiting the blocked Strait of Hormuz.

MSC Mediterranean Shipping, in an advisory posted on Saturday, said the first sailing would be May 10 from Antwerp, in a loop that also includes stops in Germany, Italy, Lithuania and Spain. Ships will cross the Suez Canal into the Red Sea and visit two ports on the western coast of Saudi Arabia — Jeddah and King Abdullah. 

From there, the network uses trucks to reach Dammam on the peninsula’s east coast, where feeder vessels would connect to maritime gateways, including in Abu Dhabi and Dubai’s Jebel Ali. Both have large industrial zones with hundreds of multinational companies that rely on containerized cargo which used to freely move through Hormuz.

Traffic through the strait has been severely restricted since the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February, with few signs that it’s opening soon. That extended closure is forcing shipping lines to chart land-based alternatives that take longer, cost more and emit more carbon. 

Ports just outside the strait, in Oman and on the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates, are also seeing a surge of diverted containers requiring expanded trucking capacity.

Hapag-Lloyd, based in Hamburg, said in March it established ground transport routes across Saudi Arabia and Oman. Copenhagen-based A.P. Moller-Maersk has also announced multi-modal “landbridge” solutions for cargo across the region.

In the advisory, Geneva-based MSC said the offering is in response to growing demand amid the “challenging scenario in the Middle East.” The drive from Jeddah to Dammam — a route that passes through the capital Riyadh — is about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers). 

MSC’s feeder ships would also reach Bahrain, Iraq and Kuwait.