Dealers say the disruption came as a result of change of contracts where the new contractor has not efficiently managed to cope with customs clearance program.
Head of the National Committee for Customs Clearance (NCCC) at the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry Musaid Al-Sayyari said poor operation of the dry port caused enormous damage to the goods, which are vulnerable to spoil if disruption continues in the future.
Customs brokers have sent their complaints to the Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) on the inability of the new operator to prepare containers for inspection and receive data through container data operation system from Dammam in addition to his failure to discharge the cleared containers, he said.
No proper equipment are available to complete the inspection procedures under the terms of the contract and those in operation are obsolete and not commensurate with the nature of work in the port, he noted.
He said the situation has caused material and moral damage to the customs brokers in Riyadh where the volume of loss for each office has reached SR 1.2 million as owners of the containers opted to other ports on the belief that customs brokers were to blame for delay of container clearance.
Medical vaccines and supplies are vulnerable to damage due to weather changes and poor storage, he warned.
The SRO ascribed accumulation and pile-up of containers in the dry port to the transfer of the contract to a new contractor and withdrawal of skilled workers who were running the port from the very beginning.
The SRO gave some details on awarding the new contract to Bass International in partnership with the International Ports Services (IPS), which, in turn, is working with Ningbo Port Company of China for the operation of dry port in Riyadh and related works in Dammam for 10 years.
To avoid any disruption in the port, the new contractor was asked to sign a contract with IPS to provide assistance, which began work as of 29-5-1433. This will positively be reflected in the manner the port is to be operated as IPS will secure all equipment and skilled workers to join those of the new contractor, the SRO said.
Meanwhile, a work team from the SRO has been assigned to closely follow up work in the port on around-the-clock basis until situation returns to normal position.
On the other hand, many customs brokers called on the concerned authorities to reconsider situation in the port in terms of its space and capacity compared to the growing number of containers and goods.
Some brokers spoke about a series of technical problems, which caused a lot of financial losses to their offices while others touched on the shortage of electric generators to feed cold stores with required power supply.
It is to be recalled that the dry port in Riyadh is occupying an area of 918,639 square meters and contains 6 stores with an area of 6,480 sq m for each of them. Capacity of the port is currently 200,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year and prepared to accommodate more containers in the future.
The port is equipped with a variety of facilities such as cold stores, stand-by generators, administrative offices, customs brokers offices, loading and handling equipment, manpower for operation and maintenance purposes, and security staff, in addition to a mosque, restaurant and clinic.
