September 11, 2026. According to Daily Galaxy, ships bound for Dubai may soon have another option as the UAE builds a trade corridor outside the Strait of Hormuz.
Jebel Ali—19.4 million TEU, 100+ berths, ~36% of Dubai GDP via the Jafza ecosystem—sits inside the Gulf, so every ship still has to use Hormuz; post-February war traffic through the strait collapsed from ~21.6 million b/d of oil liquids in Q4 2025 to 4.9 million b/d in Q2 2026.
Fujairah and Khor Fakkan could not absorb all diverted calls, and attacks continue (two Saudi-crude VLCCs hit near the strait on Sept. 1), so the UAE is building an east-coast gateway on the Gulf of Oman that ships can reach without entering Hormuz.
DP World’s 50-year deal with Fujairah Ports covers Al Rugaylat (up to 2.5 million TEU, 1.7 million t general cargo, ~190,000 vehicles) and Dibba (up to 3.6 million t general cargo), lifting DP World’s UAE box capacity toward ~22 million TEU after 24–30 months of phased build.
Those terminals are not a Jebel Ali replacement: cargo would land on the east coast and cross the UAE by road/rail into Jebel Ali, Jafza, Dubai and Abu Dhabi—an overland last-mile around the chokepoint.
Oil has a parallel bypass: the existing 1.8 million b/d Habshan–Fujairah line already loads crude outside Hormuz, and ADNOC is building a second west–east pipeline due 2027 to double Fujairah export capacity.
Read the full story on Daily Galaxy.
