JEDDAH: Many commercial ships are reportedly skipping the Jeddah Islamic Port due to extreme congestion and unload their consignments at nearby ports, causing problems to exporters and importers. They also skip the port fearing fines charged by authorities for the delay in unloading shipments.
Tarek Al-Marzouki, head of the Shipping Committee at Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, confirmed that many shipping lines have diverted their routes without stopping at Jeddah. “They have been doing this because of a lack of unloading facilities and fear of fines,” he added.
Marzouki said the port required radical solutions to solve the crisis, especially at this time of increasing commercial activities in the region. Khaled Boubasheet, president of Saudi Seaports Authority, recently called for an emergency meeting of port officials to discuss the crisis and find solutions.
Ibrahim Al-Oqaily, head of the Customs Clearance Committee at the chamber, said he had received several complaints from traders on late arrivals of their shipments, incurring heavy losses to them. The port, one of the largest in the region, faces congestion at its container terminal as well as berths. “Port authorities should acknowledge the problem in order to solve it, instead of trading accusations,” he said. “The reasonable time for waiting at the port is four hours for a shipping line because of its commitments to other ports. They have to leave Jeddah when the time exceeds the limit,” he pointed out.
Al-Oqaily warned that the crisis at the port would affect businesses in the Kingdom. “The crisis has led to the piling up of goods at the port causing huge financial losses to traders,” he added.
The Customs Department would give shipments a waiting time of only 10 days to clear, irrespective of the reasons behind the delay. He said the shortage of staff at clearance companies and increase in shiploads had intensified the crisis.
Jeddah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Majed recently instructed the Jeddah chamber to set up a panel to give proposals to solve the problem.
A senior official at an export company said the problem at the Jeddah port has been persisting since at least last month. “Higher authorities should intervene immediately to solve the problem,” the official said highlighting the enormity of the problem. He said such over-congestion is experienced at other ports in the region also as a result of a substantial increase in trade. He said at least 15 ships had skipped the port last month and eight this month. “There is a shortage of space at the container terminal and it takes a long time to get the consignments cleared, leaving goods accumulated at the port,” another official said.
