Iraq takes delivery of the Grand Faw Port immersed tunnel

Overview

Updated 57 minutes ago

For years, cargo leaving the Grand Faw Port site had to travel roughly 200 kilometers of road to reach Iraq's international highway. On November 12, South Korea's Daewoo Engineering & Construction handed Iraq a 2,444-meter immersed tunnel under the Khor Al-Zubair navigation channel. The route is now 62 kilometers, and the drive falls from about two hours to roughly 35 minutes.

The tunnel is the first piece of the $17 billion Development Road to be finished: a planned 1,200-kilometer road and rail corridor running from the Gulf through Iraq to Turkey and on toward Europe. The concrete is in the water. Whether the corridor works as a trade route depends on the port, the railway and the region's security, none of which the handover settles.

Why it matters

Iraq is betting $17 billion that a 1,200-kilometer corridor can turn it from an oil state into a trade route between Asia and Europe.

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Key Indicators

2.44 km

Tunnel length

Total length of the immersed tunnel, of which about 1,266 meters run beneath the navigation channel.

62 km

Road distance to the international highway

Down from roughly 200 kilometers before the tunnel opened.

35 min

Travel time to the highway

The Ministry of Transport says the trip falls from about two hours.

Traffic lanes

Three lanes in each direction.

Concrete sections immersed

Prefabricated sections lowered onto the channel bed between March 2025 and 2026.

$17B

Development Road program value

Figure covers the wider corridor program, not the tunnel alone.

1,200 km

Planned corridor length

Road and rail route from the Gulf to the Turkish border.

98%

Tunnel completion in late October

Figure given by the ports company before the handover.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

People Involved

Wahb Al-Hassani

Iraqi Minister of Transport

In office; opened the tunnel on November 12, 2026

Abdullah Ati Abdullah

Director General, General Company for Ports of Iraq

In office; accepted the tunnel from Daewoo

Organizations Involved

General Company for Ports of Iraq

State port operator

Took delivery of the tunnel; operates Grand Faw and Umm Qasr

Iraq's state ports company, and the client that now owns the Khor Al-Zubair tunnel.

Daewoo Engineering & Construction

South Korean construction contractor

Handed over the completed tunnel

The South Korean builder that installed the tunnel's ten immersed sections and handed the finished structure to Iraq.

Iraq Ministry of Transport

Government ministry

Oversees the tunnel, the port and the Development Road

The ministry that owns the port and corridor program and set the tunnel's distance and time savings.

Technital

Italian engineering design firm

Designed the immersed tunnel

The Italian firm that designed the crossing, built from prefabricated reinforced concrete sections.

Timeline

April 2024 November 2026

7 events Latest: Today

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November 2026
Ports company formally accepts the 2,444-meter tunnel
Today Delivery

Iraq's ports company takes delivery of the six-lane link between Grand Faw and the Umm Qasr area.
Today
Daewoo hands over the tunnel; minister opens it
Handover

Transport Minister Wahb Al-Hassani inaugurates the crossing as Daewoo transfers it to the state ports company.
2 days ago
September 2026
Ministry ties port trial run to end of Hormuz crisis
Statement

Transport officials report the tunnel at 98 percent and the exchange yard at 90 percent, with five berths finished.
September 25th, 2026
May 2026
Tunnel passes 95 percent complete
Construction

The ports company says the tunnel has reached its final stages and is nearing readiness for vehicles.
May 9th, 2026
August 2025
Fifth section, 'Azal,' set on the channel bed
Construction

Half the tunnel's concrete sections are now in place.
August 18th, 2025
March 2025
First tunnel section immersed
Construction

The ports company completes immersion of the first of ten concrete sections beneath the Khor Al-Zubair navigation channel.
March 10th, 2025
April 2024
Iraq, Turkey, Qatar and the UAE sign corridor memorandum
Agreement

The four states agree to cooperate on the Development Road, a roughly 1,200-kilometer road and rail link from the Gulf to Turkey.
April 2024

Scenarios

Tunnel opens to regular truck traffic by mid-2027

Likely Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: Iraqi Ministry of Transport statements; Italian trade press coverage of the handover

The handover completes construction, but Iraqi and Italian reporting both note that completion, technical checks and entry into service are separate steps. If the ministry announces the tunnel open to commercial vehicles, the 62-kilometer route becomes the port's working land link.

Grand Faw Port begins trial operations by end of 2027

Possible Resolves by End of 2027

Discussed by: Iraqi Ministry of Transport; Iraqi News Agency

The ministry has said the port will enter a trial phase once works are finished and the regional environment is safe, citing disruption from the Strait of Hormuz crisis. A trial run would mark the point where the tunnel starts carrying port cargo rather than construction traffic.

Development Road rail leg still lacks a construction contract in 2028

Uncertain Resolves by Q2 2028

Discussed by: Agenparl and Blue Economy analysis of the corridor's unfinished components

The tunnel is one finished piece of a 1,200-kilometer road and rail program. Reporting notes the corridor needs rail, road and logistics work plus security along the route. If no rail construction contract is awarded, the corridor remains a road project with a port at one end.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

1976-1979

Jebel Ali Port opens (1979)

Dubai began building Jebel Ali in 1976, well beyond the traffic its small trading economy then generated. The port opened in 1979 with berths deep enough for the largest ships of the era, and free-zone rules that let foreign firms operate there.

Then

The port ran below capacity for years while Dubai built roads, power and industrial zones around it.

Now

Jebel Ali became the region's largest container port and the anchor of Dubai's re-export economy.

Why this matters now

Grand Faw is the same bet in a different country: build port capacity before the trade exists, and hope the corridor creates it.

1986-1994

Channel Tunnel opens (1994)

Britain and France spent eight years and far more than budgeted to bore a 50-kilometer rail link under the English Channel. The project was privately financed and nearly collapsed under cost overruns before opening in May 1994.

Then

Freight and passenger traffic grew slowly, and the operating company restructured its debt.

Now

The tunnel became a routine freight route, but it took more than a decade to approach its design capacity.

Why this matters now

A finished undersea link is not the same as a used one. Iraq's tunnel faces the same gap between opening day and steady traffic.

April 2024

Iraq's Development Road memorandum (2024)

Iraq, Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates signed a cooperation memorandum for a roughly 1,200-kilometer road and rail corridor from the Gulf to the Turkish border, with an estimated program value of about $17 billion.

Then

The agreement set a framework but left financing, rail contracts and construction timelines open.

Now

The corridor remains a multi-year program in which the tunnel is the first completed major structure.

Why this matters now

It is the plan the tunnel was built to serve, and the reason a single crossing is being read as a national trade strategy.