The war in Iran and the disruption it has caused at sea are forcing more cargo onto Middle Eastern roads. Long-discussed overland corridors are now facing their first real test as operators try to keep freight moving through a region under strain.
That shift was the focus of an IRU webinar this week, where officials and operators from Türkiye, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Qatar described how cargo is being rerouted and where the biggest pressure points now lie. The axis drawing most attention runs from Türkiye through Iraq towards the Gulf, where governments and logistics companies are trying to turn long-discussed corridors into working routes for real cargo.
However, the change is not about replacing shipping. Even the strongest supporters of these routes do not claim that trucks can absorb the full volume that normally moves by sea. What is happening instead is more specific: road freight is being used to keep time-sensitive, high-priority and operationally critical goods moving when maritime corridors become harder, slower or riskier to use.
Türkiye is trying to lock in its role as the bridge
Türkiye is presenting itself as the natural overland link between Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. Hasan Boz, deputy director general at the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, describes a system built on a combination of land crossings, Ro-Ro links and rerouting flexibility. In his account, around 2,500 trucks a day pass through the main border gates towards Europe, while Turkish ports, including Istanbul, Pendik, Çeşme, Izmir and Mersin, offer maritime links into Italy and France. He also says annual road transport operations between Türkiye and EU countries stand at about 1.3 million.
An important part of Ankara’s argument is that earlier crises had already exposed the need for alternative routes. Boz links the current pressure to lessons from both the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, saying the latter pushed more attention towards corridors running south of the disrupted northern route. In his account, traffic on some routes involving Türkiye rose by around 60% after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war.
He also places unusual emphasis on something less visible than new roads or border gates: permits. Digital permits, he says, matter because they allow operators to quickly shift routes rather than waiting weeks for paper authorisations. That makes them part of the route itself, not just an administrative detail.
Iraq has moved from strategic idea to practical necessity
If Türkiye is the northern anchor of the corridor, Iraq is the land bridge in the middle. Without it, there is no continuous overland route from Türkiye towards the Gulf.
Mortada Kareem Al-Shahmani, director general of Iraq’s General Company for Land Transport, said daily transit shipments are continuing and presented Iraq as the key north-south link between Türkiye, Europe and Gulf markets. He also pointed to work around the Arar border with Saudi Arabia as Iraq seeks to expand both transit and import flows, while presenting Iraqi transit as competitive in both time and cost.
That push sits within the wider Development Road project, a planned 1,200-kilometre network of roads and railways linking the Port of Faw in southern Iraq to Türkiye and onwards to Europe. The project remains a longer-term strategic ambition, but Baghdad is already trying to turn Iraq’s geography into a practical freight advantage.
A Syria route is back on the table
One of the more striking parts of the Turkish case is that it does not stop with Iraq.
Boz says the corridor through Syria reopened in November 2025 after years of closure and is again being used for access to Jordan, Lebanon and other destinations. According to his account, test runs were carried out successfully and onward transit is possible, although under specific conditions, including convoy arrangements and border procedures that still vary depending on destination and cargo.
The new overland geography is described as a patchwork of usable routes, each with its own restrictions, border rules and operational compromises.
Saudi Arabia is carrying more of the load — and feeling the strain
Further south, Saudi Arabia is emerging as the balancing platform for cargo moving between the Red Sea side of the region and the Gulf.
Achraf Ellili of Flow Progressive Logistics describes a market under immediate pressure. In his account, the first two weeks of disruption were chaotic, with uncertainty over capacity, booking space and commitments. He says freight costs that used to sit at around $2,000 rose to between $7,000 and $9,000, while insurance and risk premiums climbed sharply as well.
According to Ellili, the strain is showing up less at the quayside than in the fleet itself. Truck availability, driver rotation, reefer and genset capacity, and cross-border coordination are all under pressure, while fragmented data across carriers, customs systems and ports is making it harder for shippers to see the full picture.
Hasan A. Almanasif of the Saudi Automobile & Touring Association describes the same shift from another angle. Cargo is moving between the Kingdom’s Red Sea and Gulf-side ports, he says, helping serve both Saudi and wider GCC flows. But he also points to the same hard limit: even if the route works, the market still needs enough trucks and operators to make it viable at scale.
In Qatar, the route is already carrying urgent cargo
In Qatar, the change is visible in a more specific form. Thampoo Kurian of Aero Group of Companies says his firm registered around ten trailers to move Qatar Airways cargo by road after established routes were disrupted. According to his account, around 11 or 12 trips had already been completed, transit times had fallen by about 40–50%, and the operation had already reached Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, with Bahrain, other GCC markets and Jordan also under consideration.
This is still a small-scale operation, and Kurian is open about its limits. Trucks are returning empty, and awareness of the system remains uneven. Even so, it is one of the clearest signs that these routes are no longer only being discussed in strategic terms. They are being used for real cargo under real pressure.
Borders, permits and customs are as important as geography
For these corridors, the border can matter as much as the road itself. Customs procedures, transit documentation and permits all affect how quickly freight can move across the region. Saudi, Iraqi and Qatari participants described TIR as part of that process, while Türkiye pointed to digital permits as a tool for faster rerouting.
