A single ship carried 6,068 BYD vehicles to Khorfakkan on a new direct route from Shenzhen. The cars reached the UAE without passing through the Strait of Hormuz, and that detail matters more than the headline number.
What arrived, and where did it come from?
The consignment, announced by WAM, the UAE state news agency, cars travelled aboard a roll-on/roll-off vessel from Xiaomo International Logistics Port in Shenzhen. Sharjah Ports, Customs and Free Zones Authority operates Khorfakkan. It described the sailing as the inaugural voyage of a direct service between the two ports.
The shipment set a record at both ends. Gulf News reported that it was the largest single vehicle consignment Xiaomo has handled since the Chinese port opened in late 2021. Xiaomo now runs twelve international vehicle routes, reaching markets across Asia, Europe, Africa, South America and Australia.
Ship-tracking services list the carrier as the BYD Changsha, a vehicles carrier flagged in Hong Kong and built in 2025. It departed Shenzhen in early August and called at Singapore before reaching the Gulf of Oman.
Why does the route change anything?
Khorfakkan sits on the UAE’s east coast, facing the Gulf of Oman. Car carriers can therefore reach it without transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Almost every other major UAE automotive port, Jebel Ali included, sits inside the strait.
That geographic position has become valuable. Shipping through Hormuz has been severely disrupted since February 2026. In August, Lloyd’s List Intelligence reported cargo rerouting through Fujairah, Khorfakkan, Oman and the Jeddah land bridge. Vehicles landed on the east coast then travelled inland by road to Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Officials say the direct Shenzhen service cuts three to five days from the journey. Khaleej Times reported that the route also reduces the disruption risk attached to moving vehicles and heavy equipment. In other words, the saving is partly about time and partly about certainty.
Was this possible before?
Yes, physically. Ships have always been able to call at Khorfakkan. The surrounding system did not exist at scale. That means customs handling for finished vehicles, yard space, trucking contracts and east-coast dealer logistics.
Jebel Ali held that ecosystem, so there was little reason to rebuild it elsewhere. The economics changed once Hormuz became unreliable. Sharjah has since developed Khorfakkan into a working import gateway. The BYD sailing is the clearest sign yet that carmakers are looking to treat it as permanent infrastructure.
Which models were on board?
BYD has not published a full manifest. Reports citing the Shenzhen municipal government put 3,725 Fangchengbao Titanium 7 SUVs in the cargo, which would make this the model’s first large export batch. The Titanium 7, sold abroad as the BYD Ti7, is a mid-size SUV offered in both battery-electric and range-extender form. The balance of the shipment has not been broken down publicly.
The description used by the port is “new energy vehicles”, a Chinese category that covers battery-electric cars and plug-in hybrids. So this is not 6,068 pure EVs, whatever the shorthand in some coverage suggests.
In the UAE, Al-Futtaim Electric Mobility handles BYD sales and after-sales, with showrooms including Dubai Festival City, Sharjah, Al Ain and Ras Al Khaimah.
Can the port move that many cars?
The numbers suggest it can. Khorfakkan’s commercial terminal, operated by Gulftainer, handled 24,675 vehicles between January and August 2026. Discharge has averaged 141 vehicles an hour across the year, peaking at 197.
The port also runs a “Discharge and Drive” process, which clears vehicles through customs and out of the yards within 96 hours. On those figures, a 6,068-car ship represents roughly two days of discharge rather than a bottleneck. The onward constraint is the road link to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Trucking capacity on that corridor has tightened as more cargo shifts east.
What does it mean for buyers?
Mostly it means supply. A shipment this large suggests BYD is building stock ahead of demand, and that usually shortens waiting times. It can also give buyers more room to negotiate. However, neither BYD nor Al-Futtaim has published pricing or allocation for this consignment, so treat anything more specific as guesswork.
The wider point sits with the supply chain. One ship has demonstrated that thousands of finished cars can enter the UAE without touching Hormuz at all. If that route holds, the map of UAE car imports has changed. Every importer selling into the Gulf will doubtless try to follow suit.
