“The new regulation, which amounts to gagging our mouths, is wrong and does not serve the interests of traders or the JCCI. We are now living in a world where there are a free media that lead to improved services,” said Ibrahim Muhammad Al-Aqili, chairman of the clearance committee.

He added that members of the committee never speak to the media unless the situation demands it and do not recklessly look for attention in the media.

“When we speak about our difficulties as customs clearance agents at certain times, it is only to seek solutions to the difficulties we face at that particular time. We only think of the interests of all parties when we explain the facts in the media,” he added.

The Jeddah Islamic Port mainly experiences difficulties at holiday times when many employees are on holiday and a lot of freight arrives.

“The shortages in staff sometimes reach up to 30 percent at such times of the year because employees are on holiday,” he said.

Al-Aqili also said there are no more backlogs of cargo at the harbor.

“The freight cluttered the wharfs in the past because of a lack of space, but the problem has now been resolved,” he said, adding that the major problem faced by clearance agents at present is the delay in completing formalities at the Department of Commercial Fraud at the port.

This problem is also caused by shortages in staff at these offices.