GENEVA, May 14 (Xinhua) — The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) announced on the 13th that, in order to strengthen the resilience of supply chains in the Gulf region and facilitate the circulation of key commodities, the agency will rapidly issue three new United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations (UN/LOCODE) entries for the United Arab Emirates and update ten existing code entries.
In a press release issued the same day, the UNECE stated that the new and updated entries include important inland logistics hubs in the Gulf region, such as the strategic logistics corridors of Faya, Sharjah, Al Ain, and Abu Dhabi, covering railway freight stations, inland ports, inland logistics hubs, as well as industrial warehousing and distribution facilities.
The agency noted that these newly added and updated locations will strengthen the inland logistics and multimodal transport corridors connecting the industrial and warehousing hubs and export gateways of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Dubai, including routes leading to the Port of Fujairah or the Port of Jeddah. These routes serve as important alternatives to the traditional maritime routes through the Strait of Hormuz.
Tatiana Molcean, Executive Secretary of the UNECE, stated that the UN/LOCODE and the TIR Convention are global public goods that promote international trade and the stability of global supply chains, helping to ensure that essential transport and logistics operations can continue despite geopolitical tensions and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and the wider region.
In response to the demand for alternative transport following a de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the UNECE announced at the end of April the official launch of the “Gulf States Border Crossing Monitoring Platform,” which aims to optimize cargo planning and customs clearance processes for inland transport in the Gulf region through information integration.
The UN/LOCODE is the cornerstone of global trade and transport infrastructure, identifying over 114,000 locations in 249 countries and regions.
