The Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the world's largest container carrier, is set to launch a new shipping route that links Europe with isolated ports in the Middle East while avoiding the heavily restricted Strait of Hormuz. The first sailing is scheduled for May 10, 2023, from Antwerp, Belgium, and will include stops in Germany, Italy, Lithuania, and Spain. Following the Suez Canal, vessels will dock at Jeddah and King Abdullah ports on Saudi Arabia's western coast. From there, trucks will transport cargo approximately 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) to Dammam on the eastern coast, where feeder vessels will connect to major maritime gateways in Abu Dhabi and Dubai's Jebel Ali. This strategic shift comes in response to the ongoing restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz, which have been exacerbated since the US and Israel's military actions against Iran on February 28, 2023. The closure has prompted MSC and other shipping lines, like Hapag-Lloyd AG and A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, to seek land-based alternatives that are longer and more costly but necessary for maintaining supply chains in the region.