Freight & Lead Time
CMA CGM says it reopened import bookings into Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE on March 11, 2026, with named multimodal routes through Jeddah, Khor Fakkan, Fujairah, and Sohar. For curtain buyers, that means freight can move again, but promised delivery dates still need corridor-by-corridor checking instead of reusing old transit assumptions.
CMA CGM says Gulf import bookings reopened with specific multimodal corridors rather than a simple return to business as usual. That distinction matters for curtain buyers because routing details can change packed-CBM assumptions, feeder timing, inland handover, and the real gap between factory finish and site-ready date.
The source is CMA CGM's own advisory feed. In Advisory #9 dated March 11, 2026, the carrier says it reopened import bookings into Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. It also spells out corridor logic, including a Jeddah land bridge with feedering or trucks, plus routing options through Khor Fakkan, Fujairah, and Sohar for local and upper-Gulf cargo.
The advisory states the scope applies to dry, frozen, and in-gauge cargo and says the carrier remains committed to finding solutions that maintain business continuity. That is useful because it gives buyers something more concrete than generic reassurance.
Curtain buyers shipping into Gulf markets often quote delivery in calendar language such as factory finish, ETD, ETA, or site handover without separating them. An advisory like this is a warning that those dates may no longer sit on the same routing logic you used before.
If land bridges, feeder legs, or alternative discharge points are involved, buyers should re-check cartons, packed volume, cargo type, and handover responsibility before promising installation timing to a contractor, distributor, or hotel project team. This is exactly where a freight estimate needs to be paired with route confirmation, not used alone.
Because reopened bookings may still move through alternative corridors that change the real timing, routing, and inland handover behind the shipment.
Confirm the active corridor, port and inland handover plan, cargo type scope, packed CBM, and whether the quoted ETA already includes feeder or truck transfers.
The strongest support pages are the Bulk Curtain Shipping Estimator, Hotel Curtain Lead Time Estimator, and the sea freight versus air freight guide.
Source checked June 26, 2026. Facts come from CMA CGM's advisory; the curtain freight and delivery interpretation is BEYOND-CURTAIN's buyer-side reading.