Iraqi Line returns to Gulf container trade after 50 years

Iraq’s national shipping line is returning to scheduled container services in the Gulf after more than half a century, as the country seeks to rebuild maritime connections disrupted by the Strait of Hormuz crisis.

According to Alphaliner, Iraqi Maritime Line is deploying the 902 teu Basrah on an eight-day shuttle linking Jebel Ali in Dubai with Umm Qasr, Iraq’s principal container gateway. The first sailing was scheduled to depart Jebel Ali yesterday, arriving in Umm Qasr two days later.

Iraq’s transport ministry has described the initiative as the national carrier’s first regular Gulf operation since the mid-1960s.

The relaunch comes as Iraqi container supply chains have been radically reshaped since the Hormuz shipping crisis erupted at the end of February. Growing volumes have been diverted to Jordan’s Red Sea port of Aqaba before travelling overland into Iraq through the Trebil border crossing.

According to the Jordan Shipping Association, Aqaba handled 37,182 Iraq-bound transit containers during the first seven months of 2026, compared with just 3,599 during the corresponding period last year, a 933% increase. Maersk has introduced landbridge services connecting Aqaba with Iraq, while CMA CGM has offered alternative routings through Aqaba for southern Iraq and Turkey’s Mersin for northern destinations. The French carrier has also established multimodal connections through Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah and ports in Oman and the UAE. Other carriers have maintained limited maritime connections through smaller feeder vessels. Hapag-Lloyd outlined a routing in July whereby containers are discharged at Khorfakkan, outside the Strait of Hormuz, before being trucked across the UAE to Sharjah or Jebel Ali and transferred onto third-party feeder vessels serving Iraq and other upper Gulf destinations.

The new Iraqi service will provide a dedicated national shipping connection with the region’s largest container hub, although vessels operating between Jebel Ali and Umm Qasr must still navigate the increasingly dangerous Strait of Hormuz.

The shuttle therefore complements rather than replaces the overland alternatives that have become vital to keeping Iraqi imports moving.