Bahrain's Alba Shuts 19% of Capacity as Strait of Hormuz Blockade Disrupts Supply

Bahrain's Alba shut down 19 (%) — share of aluminium capacity cut by Alba of its aluminium production capacity on March 15, 2026, as the ongoing disruption to the Strait of Hormuz continued to squeeze raw material supplies to Gulf industry. The shutdown came on the same day that oil loading operations at the Port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates resumed, following a drone attack and fire on March 14 that had temporarily halted activity at the terminal. India's Hindalco Industries also halted production of extruded aluminium products, according to a company notice cited by Reuters, citing the impact of the Iran war. The disruptions mark a significant widening of the conflict's economic footprint across the region and into South Asia.

The military campaign involving the United States and Israel against Iran escalated on February 28, 2026, according to Reuters reporting. Iran subsequently moved to largely block the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which a substantial share of global oil and gas supplies transit. The Port of Fujairah, located on the UAE's eastern coast, serves as a critical alternative export route for Murban crude oil, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz via overland pipeline. Alba, which began commercial operations in 1971, is one of the world's largest aluminium smelters and draws heavily on energy and raw material supplies that flow through regional maritime routes. Hindalco Industries is an Indian aluminium and copper manufacturing company and a subsidiary of the Aditya Birla Group, listed in the Forbes Global 2000.

The Port of Fujairah resumed oil loading operations on March 15, according to an industry source cited by Reuters, after a drone attack on March 14 caused a fire and forced a temporary suspension. An Indian-flagged vessel, the Jag Laadki, carrying of Murban crude oil, safely departed Fujairah for India on March 15 following the resumption of terminal operations, Reuters reported. Iran had threatened new attacks on UAE ports on Saturday after U.S. strikes on its Kharg Island facilities, and warned residents to leave areas near potential targets, according to web search results citing Reuters. The port's strategic importance to global energy markets stems from its role as the world's second-largest bunkering hub and as the primary maritime outlet for UAE crude that avoids the now-disrupted Hormuz passage. The attack on Fujairah represented a direct strike on one of the few remaining functional export arteries for Gulf oil producers.

Separately, a fire broke out at an oil facility in Russia's Krasnodar region on March 15, caused by falling drone debris, according to Russian authorities cited by Reuters. The incident added to a pattern of energy infrastructure incidents spreading beyond the immediate theater of the Iran conflict. Alba's capacity cut reflects the difficulty smelters in the Gulf face in securing aluminium-grade raw materials, which typically transit through or near the Hormuz corridor. Hindalco's production halt in India underscores how the conflict's supply chain effects have extended well beyond the Gulf, reaching major industrial consumers in South Asia. The combination of reduced Gulf smelting output and disrupted Indian production capacity points to tightening conditions in global aluminium supply chains, particularly for extruded products used in construction and manufacturing. The full duration of Alba's production cut and Hindalco's halt remained unclear based on available reporting as of March 15.