NCAB Reports Logistics Disruptions from Middle East Conflict

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The ongoing military conflict in the Middle East has led authorities to suspend all flight operations in Doha and Dubai, as well as across the broader region. These disruptions have resulted in significant flight cancellations, and the grounding of both passenger and cargo air traffic. The flight corridors for passing air traffic have been adjusted to maintain safety.

At this stage, we have not experienced major disruptions to our operations. We have robust diversification of our supply chain and limited exposure to the most affected regions (Dubai and Doha), which allows us to very quickly offer alternative delivery routes. However, it is clear that this situation continues to evolve and with a key route / hub now offline, we are seeing increasing pressure across global transport networks which may have broader implications beyond the Middle East region:

Reduced capacity: The closure of Dubai and Doha airports, which are the main hub of Emirates, and service suspensions have decreased available capacity by 22% for main routes between Asia and Europe.

Asia & Europe trade lanes: This limited capacity may cause further disruptions, particularly on the Asia–Europe corridor, although no major disruptions are currently expected. At such times, this is where our leverage of scale, through consolidated volumes helps to secure prioritization.

War risk surcharges: Currently we have not heard of any airline or carriers looking to introduce a war risk surcharge, but if the crisis continue then there is a possibility that this may be applied, to offset the higher insurance costs, longer routing and increasing operational costs. This would not be the first time we have seen this, as some airlines did apply such surcharges following the Ukraine conflict in 2022, the Iraq conflict in 2003 and directly after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Jet fuel: Oil prices are already increasing due to the closure of the Hormuz strait and could continue to rise further, which does have a direct impact on the price of jet fuel.

This is an evolving situation. If the crisis persists, the already strained supply chain may face further pressure from both capacity constraints and rising operational costs. This could lead carriers to introduce exceptional surcharges or cost adjustments. Should this occur, we will communicate transparently and as early as possible.

We continue to monitor the situation closely and remain fully committed to maintaining service continuity and reliability, while minimizing any impact on your supply chain.