Global supply chains could take 3-6 months to normalise, says DHL executive Tobias Maier

As businesses in the region continue to face higher freight costs with container shortages and congestion at alternative ports, he said India-Europe trade was one of the most affected due to the regional disruption.

Even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens, imbalances in container flows will take time to resolve, Maier said. His firm mobilised 500-700 vehicles from the market within the first 48 hours of the conflict to service customers.
The German cargo and freight services major is also exploring leasing around 500 trucks for cross-border operations to improve intra-GCC connectivity by the first quarter of 2027.

“We hope the Strait of Hormuz reopens. Even when it does, supply chains will not immediately return to their previous state. In ocean freight, it takes months for supply chains to return to normal after a major disruption. We generally estimate that it takes three to six months for the global supply chain to get back in sync after a major disruption,” the top executive of global logistics major DHL said.