The key facts
- Supplier Sadi Badar has for the first time declined to import trees in 2026 due to high prices and unreliable deliveries
- Spinneys split its shipment: half by road, half by sea via Turkey's Mersin
- Christmas Trees UAE has been bringing in Canadian trees for 17 years and expects arrival in the third or fourth week of November
Seasonal Imports Under Pressure from Global Logistics
Live Christmas trees are delivered to the UAE — mainly Canadian Fraser firs from Quebec — in 40-foot refrigerated containers. This highly specialized seasonal import has proved vulnerable to the same disruptions affecting global freight as a whole: ongoing problems in the Red Sea, complications around the Strait of Hormuz, longer transit times and rising insurance costs. Live trees require cooling throughout the journey and have a narrow window between cutting and reaching a buyer's living room, so some suppliers this year decided not to take the risk.
Who Opted Out and Who Rerouted
Sadi Badar, owner of Al Rifaa Nursery and Zabeel Nursery, who usually brought 600 to 750 trees a year to the UAE market through four companies, has decided not to import trees at all in 2026. “Prices are too high, and suppliers bear no responsibility for whether the cargo arrives on time,” he said. Spinneys, which buys live trees in Copenhagen, shipped them around the Cape of Good Hope last year, but this year that route has become unprofitable due to shipping delays. According to marketing and e-commerce director Warwick Gird, half of the consignment is being transported by road, while the other half is going by sea from Copenhagen to Turkey's Mersin and then by road to the UAE. The additional costs will partly fall on buyers, but the company is absorbing the larger share. The trees are expected in stores around November 24.
Canadian Firs Are Already En Route
Christmas Trees UAE, which has been supplying Canadian Fraser firs for 17 years, chooses Quebec because of its cool climate during the cutting season — this increases the chances that the trees will survive the voyage in good condition. Co-founder Simone Jucker said the team had spent months coordinating with farmers in Canada, shipping agents and logistics providers: refrigerated container costs have risen sharply, with insurance surcharges and rerouting fees added on, including for the corridor near the Strait of Hormuz. The trees have already been cut, loaded and are at sea. The company, together with its partner Oleander, is absorbing a significant portion of the added cost without passing it fully on to buyers. Jucker is not ready to name an exact arrival date but expects the trees “around the third or fourth week of November.” The uncertainty is already affecting buyers: Dubai resident Natasha Hatherall-Shawe admitted that for the first time in her life she bought an artificial tree, unable to endure the uncertainty.
