The Strait of Hormuz has been operating at roughly 5% of pre-conflict shipping volumes since the war started at the end of February. April recorded 191 vessels through the strait, versus a normal monthly figure closer to 3,000. War-risk insurance for the strait has roughly tripled. Some major carriers are charging Emergency Conflict Surcharges of USD 3,000+ on every 40ft container destined for Gulf ports — Kuwait included. A conditional ceasefire was announced on 6 May but commercial traffic has not meaningfully resumed.
If you import into Kuwait, you have already felt this. Sea quotes from China to Shuwaikh that were USD 2,500 in January are USD 4,500 today, when carriers are willing to take the booking at all. Some are not. Insurance riders that didn't exist eight weeks ago are now standard line items.
The good news is that the alternatives are mature. Over the last 90 days we have moved the bulk of our inbound volume off the Persian Gulf direct route and onto land-bridge routings that bypass Hormuz entirely. These are not theoretical or experimental — they're operational, they're priced, and they're delivering cargo to Kuwait warehouses every week.
This post covers what we're doing, what each route costs roughly compared to the others, where the trade-offs sit, and how to think about the question for your own business.
Why direct-to-Shuwaikh has stopped being the default
Three things changed almost simultaneously.
Iran controls the strait. The IRGC declared the Strait of Hormuz closed on 2 March 2026 and has been attacking vessels that transit without prior approval. As of early May, Iran is charging "transit fees" of up to USD 2 million per vessel for clearance, and is requiring detailed crew, owner, and cargo declarations before granting passage. Major lines that used to route freely through the strait now schedule transits in convoys with naval escort when available, or skip the strait entirely.
Insurance has repriced. War-risk premiums for the strait moved from 0.125% of hull value per transit to 0.2–0.4%, and for a typical containership that's USD 200,000–500,000 extra cost per voyage. Most of that pass-through to the cargo customer is happening through Emergency Conflict Surcharges. CMA CGM's ECS is USD 3,000 per 40ft container into Gulf ports. Other carriers are at similar levels with different labels.
Lead times have stretched. Even when a vessel does transit, the schedule unpredictability has roughly doubled. A Shanghai → Shuwaikh sailing that used to be a reliable 22–28 days is now anywhere from 25 to 50+ days end-to-end depending on whether the vessel waits for an escort, takes a detour, or sits in a queue.
The net effect: sea-direct to Kuwait is now the slowest, most expensive, most unpredictable of the available options. The land-bridge alternatives — which used to look like complicated, more-expensive backups — are now usually the cheaper and faster choice.
The four alternative routes we're using right now
1. Sohar (Oman) → land bridge via UAE → Kuwait
The geography: Sohar Port sits on the Gulf of Oman, east of the Musandam peninsula. Vessels reach it without ever entering the Strait of Hormuz. From Sohar, cargo crosses into the UAE via the Al Buraimi / Al Ain border (about 280 km), then continues through Saudi Arabia to the Khafji / Al-Nuwaiseeb crossing into Kuwait.
Why it works: Sohar Port handled 943,000 TEU in 2024 with 15% year-on-year growth and is jointly managed by Asyad (Oman) and Port of Rotterdam — operationally one of the most competent ports in the region. Major lines have been adding direct calls specifically for onward GCC distribution. Bonded trucking infrastructure exists end-to-end so cargo doesn't need to be customs-cleared multiple times.
Best for: Asia origin (China, India, Vietnam). Especially good if your supplier is already producing on the Gulf of Oman calling routes (most do).
Realistic transit time: 24–32 days end-to-end (sea + land), comparable to or faster than current Hormuz-direct timing.
Cost framing: Comparable to or slightly cheaper than current Persian Gulf direct quotes once ECS and war-risk are included. Reach out for current week's rate — they move with carrier capacity and fuel.
2. Khorfakkan / Fujairah (UAE) → land bridge → Kuwait
The geography: Khorfakkan and Fujairah both sit on the UAE's east coast, on the Gulf of Oman side. Same logic as Sohar — vessels never enter Hormuz. From Fujairah/Khorfakkan, cargo trucks 130 km on the Dubai-bound dual carriageway to Dubai, then continues via UAE → Saudi → Kuwait.
Why it works: Khorfakkan is one of the largest container transshipment hubs in the Middle East — vessel calls are frequent and the port has good road connectivity to the rest of the Gulf. Cross-docking from ocean to bonded trucking is well-rehearsed. Some forwarders have been routing this way for years for resilience reasons.
Best for: Asia origin (China, India) where the carrier doesn't call Sohar but calls Khorfakkan or Jebel Ali on the east coast. Many ZIM, MSC, and ONE services discharge here.
Realistic transit time: 25–35 days end-to-end, with the truck leg adding 4–6 days inclusive of UAE/Saudi customs.
Cost framing: Slightly higher than Sohar typically (longer onward truck distance), but often the only option if your supplier's carrier doesn't call Sohar.
3. Jeddah (Saudi Arabia, Red Sea side) → land bridge → Kuwait
The geography: Cargo enters via Jeddah Islamic Port on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, then trucks east across Saudi Arabia (Riyadh → Hafar Al-Batin → Khafji), about 1,800 km, into Kuwait via the Al-Khafji / Al-Nuwaiseeb crossing.
Why it works: Saudi Arabia introduced major reforms in March–April 2026 that specifically support Jeddah-as-gateway routing. Bank guarantees on transit cargo are dropped. Port storage exemptions extended to 60 days. GCC-flagged truck operational age raised to 22 years. TIR Carnet movement is now routine between Saudi and Kuwait. The Khafji border crossing moved 10,437 trucks in March 2026 alone, with cargo wait times typically 30 minutes to 4 hours depending on time of day. (We covered this in detail in our overland playbook.)
Best for: Cargo originating from Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranean, US East Coast, and West Africa — anywhere it makes sense to enter the GCC via the Red Sea side rather than going around the Arabian peninsula.
Realistic transit time: From China/India 28–38 days (longer because you go around Africa via Cape of Good Hope, given Red Sea conditions still favor the Cape). From Europe/Mediterranean, 18–25 days. From US East Coast, 25–32 days.
Cost framing: For Asia-origin cargo this is typically the most expensive option but the most predictable. For Europe-origin or Mediterranean-origin cargo, it's often the cheapest by a wide margin.
4. Salalah and Duqm (Oman) → land bridge → Kuwait
The geography: Salalah sits in southern Oman, Duqm midway up the Omani coast — both on the Indian Ocean side, well away from Hormuz. Cargo from Salalah/Duqm trucks north through Oman, into UAE, into Saudi, into Kuwait. Long onward leg compared to Sohar.
Why it works: Salalah is one of the major Indian Ocean container transshipment hubs, with deep services from APM-Maersk and others. Duqm is newer but rapidly absorbing rerouted volume. Both have bonded trucking corridors set up specifically for GCC onward distribution.
Best for: Carriers whose Asia–Gulf services discharge at Salalah rather than Sohar. Also useful as a backup if Sohar capacity tightens (which has been happening intermittently).
Realistic transit time: 28–38 days end-to-end, with the onward truck leg adding ~7 days.
Cost framing: Usually higher than Sohar because of the longer truck leg, but workable when the supplier's carrier doesn't call Sohar or Khorfakkan.
Choosing between them for your shipment
The trade-off across the four options comes down to three variables: where your supplier's carrier actually calls, what the cargo is worth per CBM, and how time-critical the inbound is.
Quick decision rubric (use this as a starting point, real quotes will refine it):
- High-value, time-critical, China origin → Sohar if available, Khorfakkan otherwise. The fastest land bridge routings.
- Medium-value, China/India origin → Whichever land bridge the carrier already calls. Sohar > Khorfakkan > Salalah > Duqm.
- Europe / Mediterranean origin → Jeddah → Khafji is almost always the right answer.
- Bulk or low-value cargo from Asia → Sometimes still worth doing sea-direct via Hormuz with the higher surcharge, because the percentage cost-uplift on cheap cargo is more painful than the surcharge on the freight line. We model this case by case.
What the documents look like
The customs documentation requirements are largely the same as direct-to-Shuwaikh — commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin, bill of lading/airway bill, plus any sector-specific KUCAS / PAAFR / MoH approvals. The land-bridge routes add two extra documents:
- TIR Carnet for the truck leg (recommended for any cargo with significant value). The Carnet stays sealed through transit, which avoids cross-loading and skips customs inspection at intermediate borders.
- Manafith insurance for the foreign-plated vehicle entering Saudi Arabia (handled by the carrier, but listed on your invoice).
For Sohar/Khorfakkan/Salalah/Duqm routings, the bonded transfer at the Omani or UAE port to the truck happens before formal Kuwait import — so the Kuwait Customs declaration is on the truck arrival side, not the port side. Practically this means the Bill of Lading shows the port of discharge as Sohar/Khorfakkan/etc., and a separate set of trucking documents records the onward movement to the Kuwait border.
If you've been doing Shuwaikh-direct for years, the only real procedural change is that the customs declaration timing shifts by a few days. The substance is the same.
What it costs vs. doing nothing
We've been benchmarking real shipments through these routes for ten weeks now. A few patterns:
- Sohar / Khorfakkan land bridge from China: roughly comparable to current Hormuz-direct prices once you include the ECS and the war-risk insurance pass-through. Often cheaper. Always faster and more predictable.
- Jeddah land bridge from Europe: usually 15–25% cheaper than current Hormuz-direct equivalents for the same origin-destination.
- Sohar / Khorfakkan from India: about the same as current Hormuz quotes, but with much lower delay risk.
- Salalah / Duqm from anywhere: typically the most expensive of the alternatives, used only when other options don't have capacity that week.
Where things have gotten meaningfully more expensive across the board is sea freight from Asia at any port. Rates are up 30–60% year-on-year. The alternative routes are not cheaper than 2024 rates — they're cheaper than 2026 Hormuz rates. The honest framing for a Kuwait importer is: cost has gone up regardless of route choice; the question is which route gives you the best landed cost and delivery reliability in the current environment.
What we'd do this week if it were our cargo
- Get a current real quote before committing. Public rate benchmarks are out of date by the week.
- Don't optimize for the cheapest individual shipment. Optimize for reliability across the next three months. The cheapest sea-direct booking that gets stuck at sea for an extra month is more expensive than the slightly pricier land bridge that delivers on schedule.
- Diversify routes across vendors. If you have two or three suppliers and they all use the same single carrier, you have concentrated geopolitical risk on one routing. Spread it.
- Get the TIR Carnet workflow set up now if you haven't. It's a one-time documentation lift; once in place it makes the land bridge routes much cheaper and faster for you.
- Plan inventory differently. If your reliable transit time has gone from 4 weeks to 6 weeks, your safety stock and reorder triggers need to move with that — independently of which routing you choose.
How we can help
Qaf Xpress runs all four of the alternative routes above for Kuwait SME importers right now. We work with operating partners at Sohar, Khorfakkan, Salalah, Duqm, and Jeddah, and we run the trucking leg through to Khafji directly. We are not a paper forwarder for these routings — we have moved real containers through every one of them in the last 60 days.
If you want a real benchmark on your next inbound shipment — origin port, container size or volume, cargo description — send it to us and we will come back the same business day with quotes across the viable routes, the trade-offs, and a recommendation.
Two ways to start:
- The quote form at qafxpress.com/rfq.html — fill in the lane and we'll come back within 4 business hours
- WhatsApp +965 9926 2146 — fastest if you have a specific quote on hand and want a second opinion
And if you just want to keep an eye on this situation as it evolves: bookmark this post. We update it as the routing economics shift, and the calculator at qafxpress.com/tools/cif-vs-fob-calculator lets you model your own landed cost under different routing assumptions.
Sources
- 2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis — Wikipedia
- Al Jazeera — When will Strait of Hormuz be 'safe' for commercial shipping again?
- Cyprus Shipping News — Container Shipping via Strait of Hormuz under pressure: Can GCC bypass ports fill the gap?
- Oman Ports Land Bridge Enables GCC Non-Hormuz Supply Chain Workarounds — TASK
- Saudi logistics reforms speed up trucking across GCC — AGBI
- Saudi land ports record 88k truck movements to GCC in 25 days — Arab News
Sources accessed: 2026-05-12.