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Qatar seeks to capture China’s growing Gulf logistics push as war disrupts trade routes

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Peggy YePublished: 10:00am, 14 Sep 2026Qatar is stepping up efforts to attract Chinese companies as the conflict involving Iran disrupts trade routes in the Gulf, adding urgency to a broader push by Chinese businesses to diversify supply chains and establish operations closer to customers.

“Diversification of supply chain is going ahead anyway, right across the world,” said Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Thani, a member of Qatar’s ruling Al Thani family and chief executive of Qatar-based logistics solutions company WareOne.

Chinese companies have expanded across the Middle East in recent years, with platforms including SHEIN, Temu and AliExpress growing alongside electric vehicle, technology and consumer businesses.

As more companies move beyond shipping goods from China to holding inventory and selling locally, they face a more complicated operating environment.

“China has the most developed supply chain in the world, the question is no longer whether goods can move [but] who operates at the other end, which is GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council),” Sheikh Khalifa told the South China Morning Post on Thursday.

The six Gulf Cooperation Council markets have different regulations, taxes and product-registration requirements, while companies may need local entities, customs agents, warehouses, fulfilment centres and delivery networks, Sheikh Khalifa said.AdvertisementSelect VoiceSelect Speed1xAI-generated voice