{"id":407682,"date":"2026-04-17T19:41:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=70661"},"modified":"2026-04-17T19:41:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:41:40","slug":"dependence-on-hormuz-highlights-need-for-gulf-rail-freight-corridor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=407682","title":{"rendered":"Dependence on Hormuz highlights need for Gulf rail freight corridor"},"content":{"rendered":"

The uncertainty around the Strait of Hormuz for regional supply chains has highlighted the necessity for inland logistics alternative solutions for goods transport, according to a leading maritime research analyst. Speaking at a webinar earlier this week, Philip Delmas, founder and head of Drewry Supply Chain Advisors, said now was the time for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of nations to push ahead with a long-mooted and much-delayed project to build a rail freight corridor crossing the region.<\/strong>
\n<\/span>The proposed \u2018Saudi Landbridge\u2019 or the East-West Container Corridor Railway would see trains running on approximately 1,500 kilometres of track, connecting Jeddah, on the Red Sea, to Dammam and Jubail on the Gulf coast, reducing freight transit times significantly and enhancing the efficiency of trade routes in the region. The line is projected to transport over 50 million tonnes of freight per year. The project also makes provision of close to 20 logistics hubs along the corridor, with rail-linked industrial parks.<\/p>\n

26 billion dollars<\/h2>\n

\u201cIt is a very large project which is hard to justify on pure commercial grounds, in Drewry’s opinion. But things may be changing now as the Gulf states realise the need to find a more secure(supply chain) route than the Strait of Hormuz, and they have the money required for this strategic investment. It would potentially make a big difference to inland logistics in the Gulf and mitigate risk.<\/p>\n

One estimate has put the cost of the project at 26.6 billion dollars with a completion date in the middle of the next decade. According to media reports, the project has gathered renewed momentum with the recent news that Spanish engineering consultancy Sener has won the contract for its lead design. The Saudi Landbridge project is viewed as complementing other rail projects planned across the region, such as the Gulf Railway which focuses on linking Kuwait and Oman.<\/p>\n

Rail link between port and mining region<\/h2>\n

The near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz has already led to Saudi Arabia Railway increasing its container traffic<\/a>. Freight trains are now leaving the port of Dammam, in the south and travelling north to ports in Jubail and Al Jubail en route to Jordan and beyond. Separately, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) inked an agreement earlier this week to launch a 2.3 billion dollars project linking the Jordanian port of Aqaba to neighbouring mining regions.<\/p>\n

The project involves the construction of a 360-kilometre railway network connecting the phosphate and potash mines, located in the southern provinces of Ma\u2019an and Karak, to Aqaba via two main routes, as well as the construction of associated tunnels and bridges. Work is expected to take five years to complete but no date has been disclosed for the railway\u2019s opening. In a statement, the Jordanian government said the project forms part of regional extensions linking the port of Aqaba to the Mediterranean Sea, via Syria and Turkey, and strengthening connections with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The uncertainty around the Strait of Hormuz for regional supply chains has highlighted the necessity for inland logistics alternative solutions for goods transport, according to\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10863,11889,471,47,17182],"tags":[12634],"class_list":["post-407682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia-europe","category-drewry","category-news","category-rail-news","category-strait-of-hormuz","tag-railfreight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=407682"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":407683,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407682\/revisions\/407683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=407682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=407682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=407682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}