10,000 Containers of Afghan Transit Goods Stuck at UAE's Jebel Ali Port Amid Iran-US Tensions

Around 10,000 containers carrying Afghanistan's transit goods, including food items, non-food products and raw materials for factories, are stranded at Jebel Ali port in the United Arab Emirates and surrounding areas due to tensions between Iran and the United States.

The Chamber of Commerce and Investment stated that ships with Afghan commercial goods are stuck at the port, leading to significant financial losses for merchants. The containers had been rerouted to UAE ports from Pakistan about 40 days ago following long delays there.

Khanjan Alkouzi, a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Investment's board of directors, said 2,000 to 3,000 containers have returned to Afghanistan at a cost of $10,500 each, while the rest remain stuck amid the US-Iran tensions. "Currently, they are stuck in ships, sometimes in Jebel Ali, sometimes in one place and another; their fate is still unclear," Alkouzi said.

Pakistan's ports, including Karachi and Gwadar, are now closed to Afghan trade due to tensions between the Taliban and Pakistan. Previously, a large portion of Afghanistan's transit goods entered via those ports as well as Iran's Bandar Abbas and Chabahar ports and Jebel Ali.

Economic experts warned that Afghanistan, heavily reliant on imports, stands to suffer the most from ongoing regional tensions. They noted increases in prices for food items and petroleum products, along with recent depreciation of the afghani against the dollar, exacerbated by Middle East conflicts and Afghanistan-Pakistan frictions.

Jebel Ali is one of the world's largest ports and the busiest for US Navy ships outside US territory.