View of Saudi Arabia’s port of Yanbu on the Red Sea: After the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the transshipment point is becoming increasingly important for the Gulf state’s exports. (archive photo)Image: www.imago-images.de
A Saudi company wants to soon overcome the supply chain bottleneck caused by the crisis on the Strait of Hormuz. Analysts are impressed.
May 15, 2026, 10:26 amMay 15, 2026, 10:26 am
Theresa Walter, Charlotta Siemer / t-online
Thousands of trucks are driving across the Saudi Arabian desert to avoid restricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and secure part of the supply chain. This is reported by the Wall Street Journal. Accordingly, the state-controlled Saudi mining company Maaden recently mobilized rail and truck operators within two weeks to transport fertilizer by land.
“600 became 1,600, that became 2,000, and now we have 3,500 trucks traveling from the Gulf to the Red Sea,” Maaden boss Bob Wilt told the Wall Street Journal. The trucks are each manned by two drivers and are usually on the road around the clock. The initiative can neither replace the shipping capacity nor the bottlenecks in kerosene and other energy supply products. However, it contributes significantly to alleviating the fertilizer shortage that threatens global food supplies.
“It’s like putting an orchestra together overnight.”
Shipping companies such as MSC and Maersk also rely on truck transport. Wilt told the Wall Street Journal that Maaden would have made up its own export backlog by the end of May. “I don’t know whether I really believed that we could do it,” he said.
Cargo ships are loading goods at the port of Khor Fakkan: Traffic there has increased significantly since the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. (archive image)Image: www.imago-images.de
The smaller port of Khor Fakkan on the Gulf of Oman is also experiencing a significant increase in traffic since more and more transports have switched from the Strait of Hormuz to overland routes. According to the report, around 100 trucks used to travel there every day, but now there are around 7,000. Previously, the operating company Gulftainer loaded containers from one ship to another mainly within the port.
Saudi Arabia is expanding its rare earths business
Numerous loaded trucks can now be seen at the port. Weekly container traffic has increased from 2,000 to 50,000 since the military escalation began in Iran. Gulftainer therefore hired 900 new employees within two weeks and set up a new truck marshalling yard to sort freight and process it for onward transport. «It’s like having to put together an orchestra overnight, to play a Mozart symphony,” explains Gulftainer boss Farid Belbouab.
The crisis is also seen as a test of endurance for the Saudi group Maaden. Saudi Arabia has ordered the mining company to significantly expand the production of phosphate, gold and aluminum and is planning to invest around $110 billion. Together with the US company MP Materials, Maaden is also building a refinery for the processing of rare earths. This makes Saudi Arabia a central player in the attempt to reduce Western states’ dependence on China.
Maaden also contributes significantly to Saudi Arabia becoming the world’s third largest exporter of phosphate. The raw material is mined, processed and, under normal circumstances, shipped via the Strait of Hormuz.
“Saudi Arabia’s logistical miracle”
Alternative transport across the desert was still considered comparatively easy. The situation was more difficult at the ports on the Red Sea, which were not designed for the phosphate trade. There, Maaden built temporary warehouses for the fertilizer and installed pipe systems to pump caustic sulfuric acid, an important ingredient in phosphate production, into stainless steel tank trucks.
Overland transport is inefficient because many trucks are empty on the way back from the ports, said Maaden boss Wilt. However, the sharp increase in export prices would offset the additional transport costs. The company is now examining how its own processes can be adapted to gain easier access to the now more important export ports on the Red Sea.
After the war began, analysts at the raw materials consulting firm CRU still doubted that Saudi Arabia would be able to continue exporting its products. However, according to data from the analysis company Kpler, several phosphate shipments from the Saudi port of Yanbu have reached Djibouti, Thailand and Argentina, among others, in recent weeks. CRU analyst Peter Harrisson described the crisis response as “Saudi Arabia’s logistical miracle”.