Anil Taneja
4 June.2026.
The war in the Gulf has played havoc with economies all over the world, not just through higher energy prices and disruptions in supply of oil and other goods. Transport of natural stone has become more expensive everywhere, even for short distances, from the moving of blocks by truck from the quarry to the factory located just a few km away.
International trade in natural stone has suffered an even bigger shock. Apart from much longer transit times and uncertainties of shipping schedules, the price of a typical 20 ft container has more than doubled, even tripled, on many routes. The shipping to Dubai, a key destination in natural stone, is, of course, paralysed, and the long land route through Saudi Arabia is sometimes being used for urgent deliveries there for premium projects at an astronomical price.
Below are approximate shipping rates for some routes relevant to the stone industry in the first week of June 2026, when the Strait of Hormuz still closed. Needless to say, there is significant fluctuation in rates, month to month, even day to day.
The figures quoted are mostly for containers and sometimes for open top, they are orientative. An industry professional will immediately recognise that the price of transport can now sometimes be more than the cost of material being shipped, and is, in any case, a very significant cost when delivered across the seas. The often prohibitively high cost of transport has meant importers are sometimes refusing deliveries, leading to severe losses for exporters. The situation is chaotic.
APPROXIMATE SHIPPING COSTS (All prices in US dollars).
Ain Sokhna (Egypt) to Om Kasr (Iraq): 6100
Alexandria (Egypt) to Valencia (Spain): 500
Sokhna (Egypt) to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia): 120
Xiamen (China) to India: 1800
Chennai (India) to Antwerp (Belgium): 2000 to 3000
Vishakapatnam (India) a New York (USA): 3000+
Vietnam to New York (USA): 2500 to 5000
Porto (Portugal) to Berlin (Germany): 5200 (by truck)
Porto (Portugal) to Warsaw (Poland): 6300 (by truck)
Vigo (Spain) to London (UK): 1700
Luanda (Angola) to Vigo (Spain): 1900
Santos (Brazil) to Genoa (Italy):1500
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) to New York (USA:) 2900
Vishakapatnam (India) to Turkey: 2700
Izmir (Turkey) to India: 800
Oman to UK: 3800
Oman to Portugal: 4200
Xiamen (China) to UK/Portugal: 2000
Vitoria (Brazil) to UK: 3250
Izmir (Turkey) to UK: 1000
Vitoria (Brazil) to Porto (Portugal): 2000
Izmir (Turkey) to Porto (Portugal): 950
India to Dubai: 4000 (previously it used to be 0 to 50)
Valencia (Spain) to Dubai (UAE): 7000
Izmir (Turkey) to Brisbane (Australia): 1250
Xiamen (China) to Australia: 2200 (open top)
Note: Thanks to Ahmed Hamed, Amit Singh, C Rao, Felipe Longarito, Patricia Exposito, Rogerio Moutinho, Russell Santon, Sahil Arora, Saket Hans, for the information provided.
