Global shipping giant Maersk has suspended operations at the port of Salalah in Oman after a drone strike hit oil storage facilities at the strategic logistics hub, increasing concerns about global trade disruptions as the conflict with Iran spread across the Gulf.
The Danish shipping group said it had suspended activities at the port “until further notice” after an ongoing security incident near the facility’s general cargo terminal. The move comes as war in the region increasingly threatens key shipping routes and energy infrastructure in the Middle East.
The port of Salalah on Oman’s southern coast is one of the region’s most important sea gateways and was widely seen as a relatively safe alternative for shipping companies seeking to escape escalating risks around the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.
The port is located at an important junction of global trade routes connecting Southeast Asia with Europe, Africa and the Americas. Since opening in 1998, it has handled more than 50 million containers and over 100 million tons of cargo and recently completed a $300 million upgrade of its container terminal to increase capacity and efficiency.
In the past, Oman has touted the port’s location in a politically neutral country as a major advantage for global shipping companies. The country has long positioned itself as a diplomatic mediator in regional disputes and has working relationships with both Western governments and Iran.
However, the drone strike has now moved the conflict directly to Oman’s coast, raising fears that the war is spreading to new fronts and threatening infrastructure previously seen as relatively isolated from the fighting.
Images from the port showed thick clouds of smoke rising from fuel depots after the attack sparked a fire in oil tanks. Omani authorities confirmed they were working to contain the fire but said the continuity of oil supplies had not been disrupted.
The incident is the latest in a series of attacks on energy infrastructure and maritime assets across the Gulf region. Earlier this week, falling debris from an intercepted drone sparked a fire that damaged storage infrastructure in Fujairah, a key ship refueling center in the United Arab Emirates.
Container shipping is also directly affected. The Japanese-flagged ship One Majesty suffered minor damage after it was hit by an unknown projectile about 25 miles northwest of the UAE.
Maersk said the escalating instability had forced the company to adjust operations across its network. The company confirmed that it is redistributing maritime fuel supplies to ensure ships can continue to refuel and operate despite increasing disruptions to storage facilities and fuel distribution infrastructure in the region.
A company spokesman said the measures were designed to ensure the global shipping network could continue to function.
“We are proactively redistributing fuel to ensure ships can continue to bunker where they are needed and to keep our maritime network running without disruption,” the company said.
The conflict has already left numerous ships stranded in the Gulf. Maersk alone currently has ten ships stuck in the region, while industry estimates suggest around 100 container ships are unable to sail on key routes.
German shipping group Hapag-Lloyd has also reported that some of its ships are stuck in the Strait of Hormuz as tensions escalate.
In response to the increased risks, Maersk and other airlines have suspended most new cargo bookings to and from several Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
The escalation comes as Iran continues its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most critical maritime chokepoints in the global energy system. About a fifth of global oil exports typically travel through the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean.
Iran’s leadership has signaled it wants to maintain pressure on global shipping routes as the conflict worsens. Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new leader, said this week that Iranian forces would continue to enforce restrictions on traffic through the strait.
Analysts believe the strategy aims to maximize economic pressure on Western and Gulf states by disrupting oil and commercial shipping flows.
Danny Citrinowicz, a member of the Atlantic Council and a former Israeli military intelligence officer specializing in Iran, said Tehran would likely escalate further attacks on infrastructure.
“They will raise the bar by targeting more infrastructure,” he said. “The aim is to cause economic damage and show that countries that support the war will face serious consequences.”
The attacks have now affected all Gulf Cooperation Council member states as well as Iraq, which has already been forced to shut down parts of its oil production infrastructure due to security concerns.
Oman itself has taken precautionary measures and pulled ships away from its main oil export terminal in Mina al Fahal while authorities assess the security situation.
Another Omani port, Duqm, about 500 kilometers south of the capital Muscat, was also hit in the early stages of the conflict.
Despite Iran’s increasingly aggressive strategy, Iranian officials have denied responsibility for the attack on Salalah. Tehran described Oman as a “friend and neighbor” and suggested the attack could have been carried out by other actors seeking to expand the conflict and smear Iran.
However, the expansion of attacks across multiple countries has heightened fears among global shipping companies that the war could effectively shut down two of the world’s most important maritime corridors.
In addition to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Houthi allies in Yemen have already attacked ships in the Red Sea during the Gaza conflict. Analysts warn that these attacks could resume if the conflict continues to escalate.
If this happens simultaneously with the closure of Hormuz, the global shipping industry could face unprecedented disruption to oil and container trade flows between Asia, Europe and the Americas.
For global logistics networks already strained by geopolitical tensions and supply chain volatility, the cessation of operations in Salalah underscores how quickly the conflict is spreading beyond traditional battle zones and into the infrastructure that underpins international trade.
