DP World has announced the start of a direct freight service between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iraq, running under the name of P&O Maritime Transports, a DP World company.
DP World pointed out that the service caters to what the industry calls “unaccompanied trailers”, meaning trailers that can be transported by sea without the driver and truck cab travelling alongside them. Instead, the trailer is left at the quayside of the port by the driver and is then pulled on and off the ship alone.
The service takes approximately 36 hours to travel between Jebel Ali Port in the UAE and Umm Qasr Port in southern Iraq.
Unaccompanied trailers are loaded onto roll-on, roll-off (RORO) freight vessels, leaving the driver and cab behind at the port.
Once the trailer reaches Umm Qasr Port, an Iraqi truck can drive it to its final destination anywhere in the country. Once delivered, the empty trailer is then returned to Umm Qasr and shipped to Jebel Ali.
Until now, goods transported by road from the UAE to Iraq must be transloaded a time-consuming exercise of transferring cargo from the original truck to a locally-licensed vehicle. It is also risky, exposing the cargo in terms of damage, contamination and security, according to DP World.
Jesper Kristensen, group chief operating officer of DP World Marine Services, commented, “The launch of this new route is a step change in our service offering in the UAE. It is a great example of our customer-focused approach at DP World, using innovative and tailored solutions to enable the flow of goods.”
