Hapag-Lloyd said it is reopening container bookings to the upper Persian Gulf region using third-party feeder services that fully bypass the Strait of Hormuz. The German carrier had halted shipments to the upper Gulf on March 4, 2026.
Under the new service, only dry cargo, reefer and in-gauge specialized containers are accepted. The feeder loop will discharge boxes at Khor Fakkan on the Gulf of Oman; cargo will then be trucked roughly five days to Sharjah Port on the UAE west coast and onward to other key UAE terminals as well as ports in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iraq.
Hapag-Lloyd said the loops will not run on a fixed weekly schedule and frequency will remain subject to regional transit safety conditions. The reopened bookings only cover cargo originating from Oman and Indian ports outside the strait; no direct shipments through Hormuz itself are being offered.
The move came on the same day the U.S.-flagged Maersk vessel Alliance Fairfax transited the strait under U.S. military escort as part of Washington's Project Freedom. MSC had earlier launched its Europe-Red Sea-Middle East Express linking Antwerp, Barcelona and Bremerhaven to Jeddah, King Abdullah Port and Jordan's Aqaba, with a road landbridge to Saudi Arabia's Dammam Port. Hapag-Lloyd's choice marks the third major carrier's operational pivot, after Maersk's escorted transit and MSC's Saudi landbridge.
Kalshi prediction-market contracts price the probability of Strait of Hormuz traffic normalizing at 46 percent by August 1, 2026, 53 percent by September 1, 60 percent by October 1, and 75 percent by January 1, 2027. Hapag-Lloyd's no-fixed-schedule feeder model is operational evidence that mainline carriers are unwilling to rely on Hormuz transits before year-end.
Key Takeaways:
1. Hapag-Lloyd reopens upper Gulf bookings — suspended since March 4, 2026 — via a third-party feeder service.
2. The new loop discharges at Khor Fakkan and trucks cargo roughly five days to Sharjah; no fixed weekly schedule.
3. Service accepts only dry, reefer and in-gauge specialized containers, with cargo origins limited to Oman and India.
4. Onward distribution covers UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iraq ports; no Hormuz transit at any point.
5. Hapag-Lloyd is the third major carrier to commit to a Hormuz workaround, after Maersk's escorted transit and MSC's Saudi landbridge.
