Dubai: DP World, a leading global supply chain solutions provider, has recently announced the commencement of the inaugural direct freight service linking the UAE and Iraq.
DP World has introduced a pioneering freight service catering to the industry’s concept of “unaccompanied trailers,” whereby trailers can be transported by sea independently, without the presence of drivers and truck cabs. This innovative approach involves drivers leaving the trailers at the port’s quay side, after which they are seamlessly loaded onto and offloaded from ships without any accompanying vehicles.
The service, operating between Jebel Ali Port in the UAE and Umm Qasr Port in southern Iraq, provides an efficient alternative for road trailers, eliminating the hurdles associated with cross-border land transport that can span up to 14 days. With an impressive travel time of approximately 36 hours, this new route significantly reduces transit duration, enhancing trade connectivity between the UAE and Iraq.
DP World’s innovative freight service utilizes roll-on, roll-off (RORO) freight vessels to transport unaccompanied trailers, while drivers and cabs remain at the port. After loading the trailers onto RORO vessels, the journey commences towards Umm Qasr Port. Upon arrival, an Iraqi truck takes charge of transporting the trailers to their respective destinations across the country. Once the delivery is completed, the empty trailers are returned to Umm Qasr and subsequently shipped back to Jebel Ali, ensuring a seamless and efficient cycle for ongoing operations.
Addressing longstanding challenges in the transportation of goods from the UAE to Iraq, DP World has introduced an unaccompanied trailer service that revolutionizes the process. Previously, cargo had to undergo time-consuming trans-loadin, involving transferring the goods from the original truck to a locally-licensed vehicle, a risky endeavor exposing the cargo to potential damage, contamination, and security threats.
With DP World’s innovative solution, cargo owners and logistics companies can now load UAE-plated trailers directly from their local warehouses. These trailers are securely shipped to Iraq, and the same trailers are returned without any intermediary handling along the route.
By leveraging purpose-built RORO freight vessels, customers benefit from increased flexibility in planning and executing the movement of over-dimensional packages on low-bed and heavy-axle trailers. The inaugural user of this game-changing route is the ADSO Group, a prominent UAE-based logistics firm, further highlighting the practicality and value of DP World’s unaccompanied trailer service.