00:00Thousands of miles from the conflict in the Middle East, Umar Ali Haider Ali's business has taken a hit.
00:06The Japan-based trader ships used cars from his adopted home country to South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
00:13Now he's among the businesses facing turmoil after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz shipping route,
00:19sparking chaos for logistics worldwide.
00:22Speaking to Reuters in his native country of Sri Lanka,
00:25Haider Ali said one shipment of second-hand luxury vehicles was unable to get to Dubai.
00:30I think the biggest challenge was the exports to UAE.
00:34UAE has been the largest market for Japanese-used vehicles, which consists of 15 percent of the total export volume.
00:41And particularly to our company, I think we have about 50 luxury cars and supercars stuck in the midway.
00:48Some cars have been offloaded at the Sri Lankan Hambantota port.
00:51Some were offloaded at the Hanshin port in China.
00:55And some of our container shipments were recalled back to Japan.
01:00The used car trade is big.
01:02Japan and South Korea last year exported a combined $19 billion of second-hand vehicles.
01:09And more than a third of the 883,000 used cars that South Korea sent overseas that year went to
01:15the Middle East.
01:16Haider Ali has another shipment to Sri Lanka that is delayed due to port congestion.
01:20One of our key markets is the Sri Lankan market.
01:23And due to the congestion of ships that was en route to Jebel Ali, they were docked out harbor in
01:32Hamantota port, which couldn't bring in new vessels.
01:36So we had over 500 cars that were about to arrive, which was delayed in the port.
01:41His troubles show how the Middle East crisis is a pending business for used car traders.
01:46In Incheon, South Korea, vehicles and other goods meant for the Middle East are piling up in storage shards and
01:52ports.
01:53Park Young-wa is president of the country's used car export association.
02:00The Middle East is our most critical and strategic market.
02:03From there, we branch out into Turkey and even eastern Europe.
02:07Even if we can't physically travel to places like Kosovo,
02:10Turkish buyers based in the Middle East have been acting as a bridge for us.
02:14But now, that whole network is more or less paralyzed.
02:22Park says some shipments set in January still haven't reached their destination,
02:26with some being offloaded in neighboring countries and others turning back to South Korea.
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