Geography has assigned United Arab Emirates quite controversial: his government wants to reduce dependence on the Strait of Hormuz to “zero”, but the ports that underpin its economy are right inside the waterway it hopes to avoid.
Jebel Ali and Khalifa Ports together handle the UAE’s $1 trillion in annual non-oil trade, most of which goes to and from Asia. Together, they form the single most important link in the logistics chain Singapore for Europe – a situation that cannot easily be replicated.
But war has a way of forcing the impossible. Along with United States and Iran locked in it seems intractable conflictsNervous shippers across Asia have been placing their bets — and OmanPorts are immediate targets.
Duqm, Salalah and Sohar are all enjoying something of a renaissance, attracting shipping lines, investors and billion-dollar free zone deals as cargo owners seek less volatile routes to Hormuz.
The UAE has its ports on the Gulf of Oman and Foreign Trade Minister Thani Al Zeyoudi has outlined plans to pour investment into Khor Fakkan, Fujairah and Dibba, as well as a brand new terminal to be built on the country’s east coast.
“We tend to have zero dependence on Hormuz and that regardless of whether it’s open or not,” Zeyoudi told Bloomberg last month, pitching the strategy as insurance. “It will open and we hope that will happen quickly, but we will not stop the new plan.”
