Stefan Paul, head of the logistics company Kühne+Nagel, said that Dubai’s reserves of fresh food may last for roughly ten days—according to European media reports citing his assessment.
Military operations against Iran are already disrupting international supply chains in a noticeable way. According to Paul, about 18% of global air cargo capacity has been knocked out of the freight system. Maritime routes have also been affected.
European countries are, for now, feeling the consequences far less acutely than the states of the Persian Gulf—yet it is precisely there that the situation could deteriorate most rapidly.
Supplies of perishable goods—above all vegetables and fruit—are particularly vulnerable. For many countries in the region, imports of such products remain critically important.
In theory, some deliveries could be rerouted overland from Saudi Arabia. Yet, as Paul noted, the available transport capacity would scarcely be able to replace even a single container ship. Such vessels often carry up to 20,000 containers—a volume that road transport can hardly compensate for.