DP World plans new Fujairah port to bypass Hormuz: report

The United Arab Emirates is planning a new port and container terminal on its east coast that would allow cargo to reach international shipping routes without passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the Financial Times reported.

DP World, the Dubai-based ports operator, is examining the development of the facility in Fujairah, on the Gulf of Oman, the FT reported.

The project would give the UAE another commercial route outside one of the world’s most vulnerable maritime chokepoints. Most of the country’s major ports, including Jebel Ali, lie inside the Gulf and depend on vessels transiting Hormuz to reach the Arabian Sea.

Fujairah sits beyond the strait and already plays an important role in the UAE’s energy infrastructure. Abu Dhabi’s crude oil pipeline to Fujairah allows part of the country’s exports to avoid Hormuz, while the emirate is a major bunkering and oil-storage center.

The proposal has gained urgency because of renewed conflict involving the US and Iran, attacks on commercial shipping and uncertainty over access to the strait. Hormuz carries a large share of globally traded oil and liquefied natural gas, but it is also an essential route for container ships serving Gulf economies.

The planned port would not make the UAE independent of Hormuz. Jebel Ali is among the world’s largest container ports and has decades of investment, logistics infrastructure, warehousing and industrial activity around it. Replicating that network in Fujairah would be expensive and could take years.

Cargo arriving on the east coast would also need efficient road or rail links to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and other population centers. That could increase inland transport costs even as it reduces exposure to maritime disruption.

The UAE’s Etihad Rail network could eventually strengthen the commercial case by moving containers between Fujairah and inland logistics hubs. The port could also provide an emergency alternative when shipping through Hormuz becomes difficult or prohibitively expensive.

For DP World, the development would fit a strategy of building interconnected terminals, logistics parks and inland freight networks rather than relying solely on individual ports. The company operates terminals and supply-chain assets across six continents.

The proposal also highlights how Gulf states are spending heavily to reduce their exposure to regional chokepoints. Saudi Arabia has ports on both the Gulf and Red Sea, Oman’s major ports open directly onto the Arabian Sea, and the UAE has steadily expanded pipelines and storage outside Hormuz.

The Fujairah project should therefore be viewed less as a replacement for Jebel Ali than as strategic insurance. Its value would become greatest precisely when the strait’s usual advantages of proximity and efficiency disappear.