Door-to-Door Shipping From China To The World
Bottom line — updated March 2026: the Strait of Hormuz is effectively paralyzed. Vessel traffic through the strait is down roughly 90% and more than 700 ships are backed up, after U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, 2026 and subsequent Iranian retaliation. Maersk, CMA CGM, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd have suspended Gulf services; carriers have made the Cape of Good Hope the default Asia–Europe routing, adding 10–20 days; conflict surcharges have reached USD 2,000–4,000 per container; war-risk premiums have tripled; and air cargo capacity to and from the Middle East is down 50–79%. What shippers should do now: re-quote every Middle East shipment, add 10–20 days to planning lead times, split critical SKUs onto air out of non-Gulf gateways, and route Upper Gulf cargo through Red Sea transhipment hubs or defer it.
Tensions erupted on February 28, 2026 with targeted strikes, triggering Iranian countermeasures including vessel attacks and declarations that effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz — the waterway through which 20% of global oil and significant container traffic passes. As of mid-March:
Net effect: the Middle East has shifted from a vital transhipment hub into a high-risk zone that has to be routed around, not through.
| Corridor / node | Status (March 2026) | What it means for your cargo |
|---|---|---|
| Strait of Hormuz (primary chokepoint) | Effectively paralyzed; traffic down ~90%; 700+ vessels backed up | Persian Gulf calls are not reliably bookable; tankers and container ships trapped |
| Upper Gulf ports — Jebel Ali (Dubai), Dammam, Khalifa | Access halted or facing embargoes / massive delays | UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait cargo needs an alternative landing point |
| Red Sea & Bab el-Mandeb / Suez | 2026 reopening hopes gone; Houthi attack risk remains elevated | Suez transit is not a planning assumption — price it as Cape routing |
| Cape of Good Hope (default alternative) | Now the carriers’ default Asia–Europe routing | Adds 10–20 days and significant bunker cost |
| Gulf air hubs — Dubai, Bahrain, Kuwait airspace | Restrictions in force; capacity down 50–79% | South Asia–Europe air freight rates surged up to 70% |
| Overland GCC routes | Indirect pressure from higher fuel costs and border tensions | Trucking into the Gulf is slower and more expensive per km |
| Cost / capacity line | Reported change |
|---|---|
| Conflict surcharge | Up to USD 2,000–4,000 per container (20ft / 40ft / reefer) |
| War-risk insurance | Premiums tripled on Middle East routes |
| Air freight rates (South Asia–Europe) | Up to +70% |
| Air cargo capacity (to/from Middle East) | Down 50–79% |
| Ocean capacity | Severely reduced |
| Bunker / fuel | Brent crude surged; higher bunker cost compounds rerouting expense |
| Transit delay | 10–20+ days common; 700+ container ships affected |
How to read this table: there is no single published index that combines these lines. Your total landed-cost impact is the sum of the surcharge, the war-risk premium and the extra bunker/rerouting cost on your specific lane — ask your forwarder to break out all three in writing before you book.
| Option | How it works | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Cape of Good Hope routing | Skip Suez and the Red Sea entirely on Asia–Europe / East-Med lanes | +10–20 days transit, higher bunker consumption |
| Tranship via Red Sea ports (Jeddah / Sokhna) + feeder or overland | Gulf-bound cargo lands on the Red Sea side and moves onward by feeder or road | These hubs are already absorbing shifted volume — book space early |
| Consolidate in China, then ship one FCL | Multi-supplier cargo is consolidated at a China warehouse before export | Fewer touchpoints and fewer re-handling charges; see our 6,000 sqm Dongguan warehouse |
| Air freight out of non-Gulf gateways | Bypass restricted Gulf airspace entirely | Fastest option, but capacity is down 50–79% and rates are up sharply |
| Defer non-urgent Upper Gulf shipments | Hold cargo until carriers resume Gulf calls | Avoids peak surcharges; no confirmed resumption date — only for truly non-urgent stock |
Not by formal international decree, but it is effectively paralyzed in practice. Following the February 28, 2026 strikes and Iranian countermeasures — including vessel attacks and declarations effectively closing the strait — traffic through Hormuz is down about 90% with more than 700 vessels backed up, and Maersk, CMA CGM, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd have suspended Gulf services. For planning purposes, treat Upper Gulf calls as unavailable.
Reported figures as of March 2026: conflict surcharges of up to USD 2,000–4,000 per container (20ft, 40ft or reefer), war-risk insurance premiums tripled on Middle East routes, and air freight rates on South Asia–Europe lanes up as much as 70%. There is no single combined index, so ask your forwarder to itemise all three lines in writing.
Jebel Ali (Dubai), Dammam and Khalifa Port are the most exposed Upper Gulf facilities, with access halted or facing embargoes and massive delays. Jebel Ali operations are partially disrupted. On the Red Sea side, Jeddah and Sokhna are seeing temporary volume shifts as cargo is rerouted.
Air freight is still the fastest mode, but it is heavily constrained: air cargo capacity to and from the Middle East is down 50–79% and Gulf airspace restrictions affect Dubai, Bahrain and Kuwait hubs, which pushed South Asia–Europe air rates up to 70%. The practical answer for most shippers is a mode split — air for critical SKUs out of non-Gulf gateways, sea on Cape of Good Hope routing for the rest.
There is no confirmed resumption date. Carriers have already made the Cape of Good Hope their default routing and 2026 Red Sea normalisation hopes have gone, so plan on elevated transit times and surcharges through at least Q2 2026 and build a 10–20 day buffer into inventory planning.
Re-quote every shipment with a written surcharge clause, add 10–20 days to promised lead times, split critical SKUs onto air, re-plan Gulf cargo via Jeddah or Sokhna transhipment, and consolidate multiple suppliers into fewer containers before export. Baitong Logistics can quote all three routings side by side — contact us below.
Baitong Logistics quotes Cape routing, Red Sea transhipment and air alternatives side by side, with the conflict surcharge and war-risk premium broken out line by line.
Tel / WhatsApp: +86 159 2063 1453
Email: overseas02@batongls.com
Website: https://www.batongls.com
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