Road, sea and air
Three ways in and out of Qatar, and what each one is actually for
Which mode suits a shipment depends on where it starts, how big it is and how soon it is needed. All three are priced from the same cargo details, so moving between them costs you nothing but a re-price.
Where each mode crosses
- RoadAbu Samra border
- SeaHamad Port
- AirHamad International Airport
The three modes
Road, sea and air
Each one has a gateway, a cost profile and a set of cargo it suits. None of them is the default answer.
Road, via Abu Samra
Overland between Qatar and the rest of the GCC, crossing into Saudi Arabia at Salwa. The route for GCC-origin cargo — and the one with an eligibility rule about the truck itself, below.
Sea, via Hamad Port
The usual choice for containerised and bulk cargo arriving from outside the GCC, where road transit is not an option and cost per unit moved matters more than speed.
Air, via Hamad International
The fastest of the three and the dearest per kilogram. The right answer when the cargo is time-critical, or small enough that the speed premium is worth paying.
Road freight
Two facts about Abu Samra decide whether a road plan works
Neither is a formality. Both are checkable before you book, which is why they are worth the space here rather than in a footnote after something has gone wrong.
1crossing
Qatar's only land border
Every road shipment in or out of the country goes through Abu Samra. There is no second route to fall back on, so a road plan that does not work there does not work at all.
Abu Samra, roughly 80 km south of Doha, into Saudi Arabia at Salwa. Reopened in January 2021.
5years
Maximum truck age at that border
A truck more than five years from its date of manufacture may not cross. If the carrier's vehicle does not meet it, the shipment needs a different truck or a different mode — decided before loading, not at the border.
Eligibility rule at Abu Samra, by date of manufacture.
1–2days
Indicative GCC road transit
This is what a GCC road leg typically takes, not a delivery promise. Actual transit depends on border processing and conditions on the day, neither of which is ours to guarantee.
Once cargo is on the truck. Indicative, not contractual.
Transit times
Indicative, not contractual
We would rather say this plainly on the services page than bury it in terms you read after the cargo is late.
What a transit figure is
A typical duration for the leg, based on the route and the mode. It is what you plan against — order dates, site readiness, a vessel you need to make.
What it is not
A guaranteed delivery date. Border processing, customs inspection, vessel and flight schedules and conditions on the day all move it, and none of them is under a forwarder's control.
How to compare
One mode per quote, every vehicle in it priced
A quote answers one question at a time. Comparing modes is a second quote from cargo you have already entered.
Pick a mode
Road, sea or air. A quote covers one mode, because the vehicles, the gateway and the chargeable-weight arithmetic all differ between them.
Enter the cargo once
Pieces, weight and volume per line — the packing list the declaration will need anyway. Every vehicle in that mode that can carry the load is priced from it, cheapest first.
Re-price to compare
Change the mode and the same cargo lines re-price against the other one. That is how road, sea and air are compared here: two quotes from one set of details, not one quote that guesses for you.
Quoted prices are estimates in QAR, and transit figures are indicative rather than contractual. Duty is assessed by the General Authority of Customs on the declaration we file, so any duty figure shown beforehand is an estimate rather than a final number.
Start here
Price the cargo you actually have
Pick a mode, enter the pieces, weight and volume once, and see every vehicle that can carry it — with the duty it is likely to attract on arrival.