ULSAN — Rising shipping risks in the Strait of Hormuz following the Middle East war have rapidly diversified the routes for naphtha, a basic petrochemical feedstock, arriving at Ulsan Port, with supplies now coming from India, North America and Europe. Unlike crude oil, which has shifted to ports outside the strait such as those on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast and the Gulf of Oman, naphtha shows a clearer pattern of supply chain restructuring that draws directly on overseas refineries and international petroleum product logistics hubs.
According to data on naphtha arrivals at Ulsan Port by major loading port for January through September 2026, released by Ulsan Customs on the 16th, shipments through ports along the Persian Gulf inside the Strait of Hormuz plunged after the Middle East war broke out in early March, while the share of alternative loading ports in India, the United States, Europe and Latin America expanded sharply.
Naphtha is a basic feedstock produced from crude oil refining and natural gas processing and used to make petrochemical products such as ethylene and propylene. Because it is produced at refineries in multiple countries and traded and transshipped through the international petroleum product market, it has followed a different supply chain shift than crude oil.
Crude oil arrivals at Ulsan Port from January through September were in fact concentrated on rerouted shipments through Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port of Yanbu and on loading hubs outside the strait, including Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates and Sohar in Oman. Naphtha, by contrast, broadened its sourcing to refining and trading hubs outside the Middle East, including India, North America and Europe.
Cumulative arrival figures confirm the shift. The U.S. port of Houston took hold as a core supply hub, with a combined 273,000 tons of naphtha arriving from January through September. India's port of Chennai also emerged as a new mainstay loading port, with a total of 185,000 tons arriving over the three months from April to June.
By period, ports inside the Persian Gulf dominated in January through March, before and in the early stage of the war. January arrivals came from Ruwais (83,000 tons) and Fujairah (68,000 tons) in the UAE, Skikda in Algeria (88,000 tons) and Houston (33,000 tons). In February, the sources were Ras Laffan in Qatar (99,000 tons), Ruwais (45,000 tons) and Skikda (45,000 tons), and volumes from inside the strait continued in March with Ras Laffan (79,000 tons), Ruwais (72,000 tons) and Qatar's Mesaieed (23,000 tons).
From April, however, as shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz took hold in earnest, arrivals from Ruwais, Ras Laffan and Mesaieed stopped. Their place was taken in April by Houston (73,000 tons), Chennai (38,000 tons), Priolo in Italy (33,000 tons) and Elefsis in Greece (25,000 tons). In May, cargoes came from Mumbai (84,000 tons) and Chennai (37,000 tons) in India and from Fujairah (36,000 tons) outside the strait, and in June, volumes from Chennai surged to 110,000 tons, followed by Houston (38,000 tons) and Sohar in Oman (21,000 tons).
In the third quarter, from July to September, the use of transshipment hubs outside the Middle East and of markets in the Americas, Europe and Asia became established. July arrivals came from Vadinar in India (81,000 tons), Duqm in Oman (50,000 tons), Houston (39,000 tons) and Russia's Far East (30,000 tons), and non-Middle East sourcing continued in August with Houston (53,000 tons). In September, loading ports diversified further to Fujairah (59,000 tons), Elefsis (57,000 tons), Pisco in Peru (45,000 tons), Houston (37,000 tons), Vadinar (31,000 tons) and Singapore (23,000 tons). The September volume from Vadinar was found to be Kuwaiti naphtha brought in through ship-to-ship transfer at sea there.
"As shipping risks in the Strait of Hormuz have grown since the Middle East war, changes in international energy supply chains are having a direct effect on the logistics of petrochemical feedstocks," an official at Ulsan Customs said. "We will continue to analyze arrival trends by major loading port and closely examine how instability in the Middle East affects feedstock sourcing for the region's petrochemical industry."