Iraq Resumes Commercial Shipping After More Than 50 Years

The Iraqi cargo vessel Basrah departed on October 21 from the port of Jebel Ali, in the United Arab Emirates, in a maneuver that marks the resumption of Iraq's commercial shipping after more than 50 years. The vessel sailed northward through the Persian Gulf, with its AIS signal showing Kuwait as its declared destination, as part of a plan by Iraq's Ministry of Transport to restore the service.

The Basrah has been owned by Iraq since it was built in 2014, has a deadweight tonnage of 17,787 tons, measures 143 meters in length overall, and can carry approximately 900 TEU, according to all three sources. The vessel is registered in Jordan. According to Alphaliner, the shipping line Iraqi Maritime Line deployed the Basrah on an eight-day shuttle service between Jebel Ali and Umm Qasr, Iraq's main container port, although the Ministry of Transport had indicated that the route would also connect with Kuwait. The decision was driven by Transport Minister Wahab Salman Mohammed, as reported by Marine Insight.

Iraq's Ministry of Transport stated that the country's last regular commercial voyages by cargo vessels in the region date back to the mid-1960s, as reported by Marine Insight and Financial Ports, while Maritime Executive placed that date, with a figure that does not match, in the mid-1690s. The Ministry described the resumption of the service as a significant milestone in efforts to revive national operators and boost Iraq's maritime sector. The vessel's departure had been announced in early October and was initially expected on the 15th of that month, but was delayed until the 21st.

Since the war in the region began, most cargo bound for Iraq has moved overland, leading to increased volumes at ports in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, with road and rail networks considered insufficient. Marine Insight reported that the Jordan Maritime Transport Association recorded 37,182 transit containers bound for Iraq handled by the port of Aqaba in the first seven months of 2026, compared with 3,599 in the same period of 2025, an increase of 933%. Shipping lines such as Maersk created overland routes from Aqaba, CMA CGM set up connections via Aqaba and Mersin as well as multimodal routes through Jeddah, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, and Hapag-Lloyd proposed in July unloading containers at Khorfakkan for transport by road to Sharjah or Jebel Ali and then transshipping them onto feeder vessels.

The resumption of the service coincided with a report from the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organization, which on October 21 stated it had received a delayed notification from a master about a tanker struck by an unidentified projectile 30 nautical miles southeast of Al Faw, Iraq. Iraqi authorities did not confirm the details of the incident, and the sources noted there is no information linking that incident to the resumption of the country's commercial shipping service.