Trade Through Dubai’s Hatta Crossing Surges 175% to AED 37.08 Billion in H1 2026: 108,811 Loaded Trucks, 919,000 Travellers, 7,870 Shahin Smart Seals and the Green Corridor Behind the Overland Boom

2026-09-09

Trade through Dubai’s Hatta customs crossing on the border with Oman reached more than AED 37.08 billion in the first half of 2026, up 175% from AED 13.48 billion in the same period of 2025, according to results published by Dubai Customs on Tuesday 8 September 2026. The number of loaded trucks rose 160.1% to 108,811 from 41,831, the number of transiting buses grew 77.5%, and more than 919,000 travellers and around 322,000 light vehicles used the crossing. Dubai Customs attributes the jump to the Green Corridor, the overland route from Omani ports that it opened together with Oman Customs in March 2026 within 72 hours of the disruption of Gulf shipping lanes, and to a package of supporting measures: the Shahin smart electronic seal (7,870 seals applied to trucks at Hatta in six months, at no extra charge to customers), a transit window extended from 30 to 90 days, priority handling for food and medicines and a wider pool of logistics providers. Below we set out the numbers, explain how the route works and what an importer, a re-exporter or a logistics company in the UAE should take from them.

What Dubai Customs reported on 8 September 2026

The results were released on the evening of 8 September 2026 and carried by Emirates 24|7, then by Gulf News on the morning of 9 September. They cover the Hatta Customs Crossing, also referred to as Hatta Customs Centre: the land border post between Hatta, the Dubai exclave in the Hajar Mountains roughly 130 km from Dubai city, and the Omani post at Al Wajajah, from where the road continues to Sohar on Oman’s Batinah coast and on to Muscat. It is Dubai’s only land border crossing with a foreign state. In the first half of 2025 it handled 41,831 loaded trucks, roughly 230 a day; in the first half of 2026 the figure was 108,811, about 600 a day.

Two derived numbers help to read the table. First, the average declared value per loaded truck barely moved: about AED 341,000 in the first half of 2026 against about AED 322,000 a year earlier (our calculation from the published totals). The growth therefore came from volume, not from more expensive cargo. Second, 919,000 travellers over 181 days is roughly 5,000 people a day, and the 77.5% rise in buses points to organised traffic from Oman and the wider Gulf Cooperation Council rather than only private cars.

Abdulla bin Damithan, Chairman of the Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, said the performance “confirms Dubai’s ability to respond efficiently to regional shifts, ensuring the smooth flow of trade and the continuity of supply chains”, and tied it to the Dubai Economic Agenda D33, which aims to double the size of the emirate’s economy over a decade and to place Dubai among the world’s top three urban economies. Dr Abdulla Busenad, Director General of Dubai Customs, said that the competitiveness of trade hubs “no longer depends on a distinguished geographic location alone; it now rests on an integrated system capable of responding quickly to change, ensuring business continuity, and strengthening the reliability of supply chains”.

Why the numbers jumped: the Green Corridor

The turning point was March 2026. When the regional crisis disrupted the shipping lanes that normally feed Jebel Ali, Dubai Customs and Oman Customs opened what they call the Green Corridor: cargo is discharged at Omani ports, loaded onto trucks, sealed under customs supervision and driven across the Hatta crossing to Jebel Ali Port and Jebel Ali Free Zone, to the local Dubai market or onward for re-export. According to the Government of Dubai Media Office, the corridor was operational barely 72 hours after the disruption started. The number of customs declarations processed through it rose from about 12,000 in March to nearly 100,000 in April 2026, and the value of goods from around AED 1 billion to more than AED 8 billion in a single month. We explained the mechanics in May in our article on the Dubai Customs Green Corridor.

In July Dubai Customs published a fuller account of the first four months. Between 1 March and 30 June 2026 the corridor moved more than 203,242 containers and more than 3.16 million tonnes of goods worth over AED 33.9 billion from 188 countries. Food products led with more than AED 5.3 billion, followed by machinery and electrical equipment at AED 4.24 billion and vehicles at AED 2.21 billion. Over the same four months Dubai Customs registered more than 4,000 new customers. In our reading, the two data sets describe the same flow measured at two points: most of the corridor’s AED 33.9 billion crossed the border at Hatta, which is why the crossing’s half-year total rose from AED 13.48 billion to AED 37.08 billion.

The corridor is not a stand-alone measure. It belongs to the economic support packages approved by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, in spring 2026. Dubai Customs reported in July that the packages had injected more than AED 79 million of liquidity into 428 companies through duty instalments and an 80% reduction in financial penalties (Customs Notices 14/2026 and 15/2026), and that 6,613 companies had received a 120-day extension for declarations under suspended-duty regimes such as import for re-export, temporary admission and transit (Customs Notice 12/2026).

How the overland route works for a shipper

For a company moving goods, the practical sequence looks like this.

1. The vessel discharges at an Omani port instead of a Gulf port. Khaleej Times, covering the speech of the Minister of Foreign Trade at the Hili Forum on 8 September, named Sohar and Duqm among the ports used; we summarised that speech in our article on the UAE’s H1 2026 trade and the east coast gateways.
2. The container is loaded onto a truck and moves under Omani export or transit formalities to the Al Wajajah post and across to Hatta.
3. At Hatta, Dubai Customs inspects and clears the consignment. Pre-clearance and digital declarations reduce the time at the gate, and the Customs Inspection Sector screens shipments: 129 seizures were recorded at the crossing in the first half of 2026.
4. After clearance a Shahin electronic smart seal is applied to the truck. According to Dubai Customs, the system uses satellite-based tracking to monitor the shipment in real time from entry to final destination through virtual customs corridors, and issues instant alerts if the truck deviates from its route or moves unusually. Dubai Customs stresses that no additional fee is charged to customers for the seal. Mohammed Al Ghaffari, Executive Director of the Customs Inspection Division, described Shahin in May as “not just tracking shipments” but “building a smart system” for trade continuity.
5. The truck proceeds under the customs guarantee system to one of three destinations: Jebel Ali Port and Jebel Ali Free Zone, the local Dubai market, or a re-export leg to a third country. The transit period for such movements was extended from 30 to 90 days under the 2026 packages.

Hatta in the national picture

For scale, the UAE’s total non-oil foreign trade in the first half of 2026 was AED 1.937 trillion, up 13.1%, with exports of AED 452.8 billion; we analysed those figures in our July article on the UAE’s record H1 2026 trade. Against that total, AED 37.08 billion through one land crossing is under 2%. Its importance lies elsewhere: Hatta was the marginal capacity that kept containers moving when the sea route was disrupted, and the spring surge did not reverse once the corridor had been proven. At the Hili Forum on 8 September the Minister of Foreign Trade described the new corridors through Oman and the east coast ports of Fujairah and Khor Fakkan as a permanent transformation rather than a short-term fix.

The land route also fits a broader build-out of UAE logistics capacity that we have followed this year: Khorfakkan port’s expansion to 5 million containers a year on the Gulf of Oman side, DP World’s purchase of 700 trucks for GCC land routes, the Etihad Rail freight network and the new terminals described in our overview of the UAE as a multimodal logistics hub. On the customs side, the same digital tools that shortened airport clearance in Dubai from 45 minutes to under 5 are what allow a land crossing designed for a few hundred trucks a day to process 600 without queues stretching into the mountains.

What this means for businesses in the UAE

• Importers. The overland route from Oman is no longer an emergency workaround but a tested channel with about 600 loaded trucks a day, a 90-day transit window, free electronic seals and pre-clearance. If your goods normally arrive by sea into Jebel Ali, ask your forwarder to quote the Omani port plus Hatta option alongside the direct call; in the spring the difference between the two was the difference between a delivery and a delay.
• Re-exporters and free zone tenants. Goods can enter under seal straight into Jebel Ali Free Zone or move on to a third country without entering the UAE customs territory. The 120-day extension for suspended-duty declarations under Customs Notice 12/2026 was part of the spring packages; check with your customs broker which of the 2026 notices still apply before you plan a re-export cycle around them.
• Logistics and transport companies. Dubai Customs says it is deliberately expanding the base of logistics providers to increase competition. 108,811 loaded trucks in six months is a market for haulage, customs brokerage, bonded warehousing and cross-border insurance. Customs brokerage in Dubai is a licensed activity that requires registration with Dubai Customs, and a transport licence with the right activity codes is a prerequisite for the vehicles.
• Compliance. 129 seizures in six months and satellite-tracked seals mean that the route is fast but closely watched. Keep commercial invoices, packing lists, certificates of origin and HS codes consistent across the Omani and Dubai declarations, and make sure your VAT registration number is linked to your customs client code so that import VAT is accounted for in your return rather than paid at the border.
• Companies still setting up. To clear goods in your own name you need a UAE trade licence whose activities cover import, export or trading in the relevant goods, a Dubai Customs client code obtained through the Dubai Trade portal, and, once the AED 375,000 threshold is crossed, a VAT registration. A free zone company that wants to sell imported goods into the UAE market needs either a mainland presence or a mainland-licensed importer of record.

Checklist: using the Hatta route for your supply chain

• Confirm that your trade licence lists import, export or the specific trading activity for your goods, and that your Dubai Customs client code is active.
• Ask your freight forwarder for a routing via an Omani port and the Hatta crossing, with transit time and cost compared to the direct sea call.
• Check whether your goods fall under the priority categories (food and medicines) or require permits from other UAE authorities before arrival.
• Decide the customs regime at Hatta: import for home use, transit to Jebel Ali Free Zone, or import for re-export; the 90-day transit window applies to onward movement under customs guarantee.
• Make sure the carrier accepts the Shahin electronic seal procedure and that the driver’s documents match the declaration; the seal is free, but deviations from the route trigger alerts.
• Link your VAT registration number to your customs registration so that import VAT is reported in your return.
• Keep a copy of the Omani export or transit documents together with the Dubai declaration for at least five years, as UAE VAT and customs record-keeping rules require.

How Atlant Capital can help

Atlant Capital sets up and supports trading and logistics companies in the UAE. We register companies on the mainland and in free zones, matching the licence activities to import, export, re-export or transport, and we handle the Dubai Customs client code and the other registrations a new importer needs. We open corporate bank accounts with banks that understand cross-border trade documentation, and we arrange work permits and residence visas for owners, managers and drivers. Corporate tax, VAT registration and bookkeeping are handled by licensed accounting and tax firms from our partner network. To discuss a specific supply chain, contact us.

Conclusion

The Hatta crossing moved more than AED 37.08 billion of goods and 108,811 loaded trucks in the first half of 2026, 175% and 160% more than a year earlier, because Dubai turned a land border post into the gateway of the Green Corridor within 72 hours of the spring disruption and then kept the tools in place: sealed trucks tracked by satellite at no extra charge, a 90-day transit window, duty instalments and reduced penalties, and a widening pool of logistics providers. For a trading company in the UAE the lesson is practical: the overland route from Oman now belongs in every routing comparison, and the paperwork that makes it fast, the licence, the customs code, the VAT link and consistent documents, is the same paperwork that keeps you out of the 129 seizures column.

FAQ

How much trade passed through the Hatta crossing in the first half of 2026?

According to Dubai Customs, goods worth more than AED 37.08 billion passed through the Hatta Customs Crossing between January and June 2026, compared with AED 13.48 billion in the first half of 2025, an increase of 175%. The number of loaded trucks rose 160.1% to 108,811, and more than 919,000 travellers and around 322,000 light vehicles used the crossing. The results were published on 8 September 2026.

Why did trade through Hatta grow by 175%?

The main driver is the Green Corridor, an overland route that Dubai Customs and Oman Customs opened in March 2026 within 72 hours of the disruption of Gulf shipping lanes. Cargo is discharged at Omani ports and trucked through Hatta in sealed vehicles to Jebel Ali, the local market or re-export. Between 1 March and 30 June 2026 the corridor carried more than 203,242 containers worth over AED 33.9 billion from 188 countries, and most of that flow crossed the border at Hatta.

What is the Dubai Customs Shahin smart seal and does it cost anything?

Shahin is an electronic smart seal applied to a truck after customs inspection and clearance. It uses satellite-based tracking so that Dubai Customs can monitor the shipment in real time through virtual customs corridors from entry to final destination and receive instant alerts if the truck leaves its route. Dubai Customs states that no additional fee is charged to customers. In the first half of 2026, 7,870 Shahin seals were applied to trucks at the Hatta Customs Centre.

What does a company need to import goods through Hatta into Dubai?

A company needs a valid UAE trade licence whose activities cover the goods, a Dubai Customs client code registered through the Dubai Trade portal, a customs broker or freight forwarder to file the declaration, and, if it is VAT registered, a VAT number linked to its customs code so that import VAT is reported in the return. Goods can be cleared for the local market, moved in transit to Jebel Ali Free Zone or declared for re-export; the transit period for onward road movement under customs guarantee is 90 days.