In the wake of the 12-day US-Israel and Iran war a year ago, Siemens Energy AG sent a person driving from Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Jeddah across the Arabian peninsula to the industrial hub of Dammam to study an alternative route in case the crucial Strait of Hormuz was shut down.

The German company commissioned the person to take readings along the almost 2,000-kilometer (1,240-mile) route to compile a 250-page document analyzing whether it was possible to truck massive gas turbines across the desert to its facilities in Dammam. Less than a year later, those plans were put into action as the latest conflict and the closure of the strategic waterway forced companies to reroute supply chains to keep operations and economies running.