A shipment of Austrian spruce timber and its tortuous new route to Qatar

Shipments of Austrian spruce lumber to Qatar have been disrupted following the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Spruce lumber, used in the Gulf for concrete formwork and basic construction framing, was typically shipped from Austria to Dubai’s Jebel Ali port, transferred to feeder vessels and delivered to Qatar’s Hamad Port within about 45 days. Cargo must now be offloaded, transported overland and reloaded onto new vessels, adding thousands of dollars in costs per container and extending delivery times by months. The disruption affects a wide range of goods, including construction materials such as ...