Only a month into the Iran war, Qatar-based distributor Salam Studio & Stores had already gone weeks without its regular Red Bull shipments, prompting it to test a little-used route.  The conflict and effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, now in their fourth month, had scattered its products across ports in India and Sri Lanka, while Gulf hubs it typically relies on faced Iranian fire and capacity constraints.

Wary of losing market share, Salam opted for an untested solution: shipping cargo to Doha via Saudi Arabia’s Port of NEOM, a Red Sea facility now pitching itself as a faster alternative to the region’s traditional trade routes.

NEOM, the brainchild of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was unveiled a decade ago as a futuristic urban project before plans were scaled back amid cost overruns. Its port is now being positioned as part of a faster trading corridor.

Salam initially ordered a single truckload to test the corridor from Europe to the Gulf, which spans multiple sea and land legs, director of distribution Adam Mulla told Reuters.

For Salam, congestion at Jeddah - Saudi Arabia’s main Red Sea port - was what made NEOM appealing.

“They chose NEOM because it has no traffic,” Mulla said.

Read the full story at Business Recorder