'Trucks Are Just Driving The Oil Across The Arabian Desert To Avoid The Straight Of Hormuz'

[sop]

"The Wall Street Journal reports some companies in the Middle East have given up on the Strait of Hormuz and turned to convoys of trucks driving across the Arabian Desert...Driving products across the desert may be slow and expensive, but now that Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz and decides how much it costs to get through, the bad option has now reportedly become the least-worst option for many companies."

"For example, the WSJ spoke with Bob Wilt, the CEO of Maaden, a state-controlled Saudi mining company, who's currently using a combination of trains and trucks to move fertilizer to ports Iran doesn't control...In an attempt to make up for how much less efficient land routes are, Maaden is reportedly running thousands of trucks across the desert, essentially 24/7. 'Six hundred became 1,600, became 2,000; now we've got 3,500 trucks running from the Gulf to the Red Sea,' Wilt told the WSJ."

"Shipping companies including MSC and Maersk are trucking goods across the Arabian peninsula. The mobilization can't replace the capacity of shipping or compete on cost, nor can it avert shortages of jet fuel and other energy products. Still, it has become a shock absorber in some key markets, sustaining trade and helping contain global inflation."

"U.A.E. supermarket chain Spinneys sent trucks loaded with British foods—including potato chips, porridge oats and children's snacks—on a 16-day journey from Kent in the U.K. through Western Europe and then Egypt and Saudi Arabia to Dubai."

Article at link:

https://www.jalopnik.com/2173916/avoid-straight-of-hormuz-trucks-shipping-oil-across-arabian-desert/