Another major port is severely congested. Shipping companies have suspended bookings. Truck fleets outside the port area stretch for about 5 kilometers.

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Affected by the continued high demand for land bridge transportation in the Gulf region, the congestion situation at Saudi Arabia's Jeddah Port has worsened significantly recently. Hapag-Lloyd has announced the suspension of related booking services through Jeddah Port. According to reports from multiple freight forwarding companies to "The Loadstar", the queue of container trucks waiting to enter the port outside the port area currently stretches for about 5 kilometers.

Although Iran, the United States and Israel have reached an agreement to suspend hostilities and initiate conflict resolution negotiations, as an important alternative channel to avoid risks in the Strait of Hormuz, the market demand for the Gulf land bridge transportation solution has not dropped significantly. The operating pressure of Jeddah Port, as the core gateway of the land bridge, continues to rise.

At present, the utilization rate of the Jeddah Port yard has risen to 90%, and the terminal loading and unloading efficiency has dropped by about 20% to 25%. Hapag-Lloyd has issued a notice to customers that due to severe port congestion, cross-border towing services for land transfer to the northern Gulf region via Jeddah Port will be suspended from now on until further notice. For containers that have been shipped to Jeddah, if the final destination of the bill of lading is not in Saudi Arabia, the goods will no longer be unloaded in Jeddah and will be handled by other ports to alleviate the storage pressure in the port area. Goods whose final destination is in Saudi Arabia can still be unloaded at the Port of Jeddah and continued to be transshipped through the existing land bridge network, but local authorities have stated that it may take 6 to 8 weeks just to pick up the boxes.

A freight forwarding company revealed to "The Loadstar" that due to the congestion at the Jeddah Port, the timeliness of the land bridge solution has seriously deteriorated. In the past few weeks, the company has recommended that customers try to avoid the Red Sea route and switch to the direction of the Arabian Sea, via Salalah, Khor Fakkan, Sharjah and other ports. More and more customers have adopted this solution. This information serves as an important reference when communicating regional logistics options to new customers. In addition, some freight forwarders said that for some customers who still insist on taking the Jeddah land bridge, the current entire cycle from the arrival of the goods to the completion of customs clearance and inland transshipment has been extended by about three weeks than before, and there is still a trend of deterioration.

Industry insiders pointed out that the current terminals of Jeddah Port are generally in a state of extreme congestion, mainly due to the superposition of two factors: First, during the Hajj period, regional import volume increases seasonally, and a large number of consumer goods, food and Hajj materials arrive at the port; second, in order to avoid risks in the Strait of Hormuz, a large number of transit cargoes flock to Jeddah Port, further pushing up the port area's operating load. In addition to terminal operations, administrative services such as customs clearance, shipping companies' cargo release, and document processing have also experienced serious backlogs due to the surge in business volume, and their processing capacity is close to saturation. Some logistics companies reported that the document review cycle for some imported goods from arrival at the port to customs release has been more than doubled than usual.

A video provided by a local trucking company showed that a large number of container trucks were queuing up outside the port area, waiting to pick up and return containers. The queue was about 5 kilometers long. Transportation companies said that some vehicles had to queue for about three days before entering the port area for operations, and some drivers even waited in their vehicles overnight.

In the face of continued congestion, Maersk has adjusted its transportation plan to transfer relevant goods through the ports of Khor Fakkan and Salalah, then transport them to Sharjah via land bridge, and then connect to the branch network in the Gulf region to deliver the containers to the final destination. It is understood that although this alternative plan increases the transshipment link, under the current severe congestion situation at Jeddah Port, the overall timeliness is more advantageous. In addition, some shipping companies are also evaluating the feasibility of calling at Duqm Port in Oman to further relieve the pressure on land bridge freight.

For cargo owners and freight forwarding companies that still need to transship goods via the Jeddah Port land bridge, it is recommended to pay close attention to port dynamics and the latest notices from shipping companies, communicate with customers in advance about possible time delay risks, and evaluate the feasibility and cost difference of bypassing alternative ports. If conditions permit, alternative routes via Salalah, Khor Fakkan or Sharjah can be given priority to avoid the knock-on impact of congestion at Jeddah Port.