i’m sure there is still quite a bit of freight going by road to saudi, and qatar. maybe not from the uk, but other EU countries.
but with the trouble in syria, it’s prety much a no go zone. so everything will have to go by sea. this is going to drive up the price for containers destined for the middle east. then once the troubles are sorted out companies will be looking for a cheaper solution to containers.
so i reckon the overland routes will be busy again in a few years.
what do you think?
limeyphil:
what do you think?
My tea’s ready.
cieranc:
limeyphil:
what do you think?My tea’s ready.
what you having ? 
I can’t see it ever being cheaper to send freight by road. The reason work to the Middle East went by road in the 1970s and 1980s were that they had not developed their container ports and there were huge backlogs of freight waiting to get there, particularly because they were developing their oil industry at the time. Now these two industries are fully up to speed, marginal changes in shipping costs would make barely a dent in the cost difference.
Get a quote for moving containers here.
globalshippingcosts.com/calc … 000&zoom=2
To have a 40’ box moved from London to Jeddah costs $2,644.75 (£1,692) and takes eight days door-to-door. It would cost at least eight times as much to take it by road. The only thing that would bring about a renaissance on road transport would be if most of the container ports were destroyed by warfare.
cieranc:
limeyphil:
what do you think?My tea’s ready.
PMSL 
bowser:
cieranc:
limeyphil:
what do you think?My tea’s ready.
what you having ?
Gammon, mash and peas. Problys a pineapple ring on top too.
What you having?
cieranc:
limeyphil:
what do you think?My tea’s ready.
I’ve had mine already. I had roast chicken.
Syria? Don’t give a toss.