Dubai, UAE – Nov. 2026 – DP World has moved more than 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) from East Coast ports to Jebel Ali and UAE markets by road and rail since the first week of March, and has brought forward the phased start-up of its two Fujairah terminals, a senior executive said.
Shehab Al-Jasmi, chief commercial officer for ports and terminals at DP World in the GCC, told a press briefing that the company now expects phased operations at the Fujairah terminals to begin within 18 to 24 months, compared with an earlier estimate of 24 to 30 months.
The 1 million TEUs were moved between early March and the end of October, he said.
Trucking network built from scratch
Al-Jasmi said the company built its trucking network from scratch. It now includes more than 3,000 trucks managed and operated by DP World, 700 of which it owns. Overland corridors are handling about 3,500 TEUs a day.
Cargo arrives at ports outside the Strait of Hormuz and is then moved under customs control to Jebel Ali for clearance, storage and distribution, he said. Additional routes run through Sohar and Duqm in Oman, as well as through Jeddah, offering further paths to the UAE and wider Gulf markets.
He said the Jebel Ali rail terminal has opened and that a 100,000-square-meter empty container yard at Awir has eased operational pressure on the port.
The experience showed the importance of speeding up cross-border rail links and of turning emergency arrangements into ready-made plans that can be activated quickly, he added.
Jebel Ali stayed open
Al-Jasmi said Jebel Ali has remained open, with operations halted for only six hours since the crisis began. The port is linked to more than 80 weekly services calling at 150 ports, and has annual capacity of over 20 million TEUs. It handled 15.6 million TEUs in 2025.
Port teams have kept equipment maintained and operations ready over the past nine months in preparation for the full return of shipping services, he said.
DP World has met nine shipping lines in Asia that expressed interest in returning to Jebel Ali. Carriers’ feedback suggests services and volumes could recover within one to three months of safe passage resuming through the strait, depending on how quickly vessels and networks reposition, he said.
Feeder services from India and Pakistan, along with road and rail options, are helping keep cargo flowing and connecting customers to markets, he added.
Jafza near full occupancy
The Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) is home to more than 12,000 companies across about 52 square kilometers, Al-Jasmi said. Occupancy has stayed above 90 percent across asset classes, with land at 94 percent and warehouses at 99 percent. Office occupancy is at its highest level in a decade.
Jafza attracted more than AED 1 billion in new investment in the first six months of the year, he said.
Fujairah terminals
DP World holds a 50-year concession to develop the Rughaylat Container and Multipurpose Terminal and the Diba General Cargo Terminal on the UAE’s east coast. Development of the two terminals is valued at about AED 2.5 billion over several years, with phased delivery based on demand.
Rughaylat, near Fujairah International Airport, will have capacity of about 2.5 million TEUs a year, along with 1.7 million tonnes of general cargo and 190,000 car equivalent units annually. Diba will add up to 3.6 million tonnes of general cargo a year, with a significant expansion in general cargo and roll-on/roll-off capacity.
Once both are operating, DP World’s container handling capacity in the UAE will rise from 19.4 million TEUs to about 22 million TEUs, Al-Jasmi said.
Rughaylat will provide a deep-water trade gateway able to receive the latest generation of mega container ships, and both terminals will be linked to Jebel Ali and Jafza through an inland transport network, he said.
He described the terminals as part of an integrated UAE port system in which cargo chooses the most suitable gateway based on destination and owner requirements, operating under a long-term strategy whether or not the strait is open or traffic through it is affected.
The development is expected to support further investment, jobs and long-term economic activity in Fujairah, and to improve cargo movement between ports, logistics hubs and end markets, he added.
Jeddah and Oman
On the wider regional network, Al-Jasmi said the South Container Terminal at Jeddah Islamic Port recorded record handling levels in July and October 2026, following four to five years of expansion investment that lifted its capacity to 4 million TEUs.
DP World plans to open a $250 million logistics park in Jeddah in the first quarter of 2027. Meanwhile, development continues on a special economic zone on the Oman-UAE border to strengthen cross-border connectivity and give customers more options, he said.
DP World has not suspended any of its major regional investment projects, he said, and continues to develop its network of ports, logistics and economic zones to improve connectivity and resilience.
Green Corridor
Etihad Rail helped connect Jebel Ali to the national rail network, allowing some cargo to shift from road to rail where possible, Al-Jasmi said. Dubai Customs and Oman Customs set up the “Green Corridor” within 72 hours, allowing containers to move in sealed, customs-controlled trucks directly to Jebel Ali.
The corridor helped facilitate trade flows of about AED 34 billion between March 1 and June 30, he said. Priorities now include pre-agreed protocols, pre-arrival sharing of cargo data and permanent cross-border links, to enable faster responses while keeping trade secure and smooth.
