AMMAN — Prime Minister
Bisher Khasawneh issued
Circular No. 53 for 2022 on Tuesday, announcing the extension of Defense Order
31, effective until the March 31 of this year, which stipulates placing price
ceilings or maximum prices for shipping fee costs of imported materials coming
to Jordan via shipping containers. The fees are imposed and collected by the
Jordanian government.
اضافة اعلان
The extension of Defense Order 31 comes after
weeks of requests sent via letters by the
Syndicate of Owners of Clearance and Cargo Transport Companies to the Prime Ministry, asking to extend
the Order’s implementation beyond its expiry date on December 31.
According
to the text of this defense order, the shipping fees on goods imported to
Jordan from East Asia and Far East Asia through shipping containers, that have a
capacity of around 20 feet, will have a price ceiling of $2,000, and the price
ceiling of shipping fees for materials imported to Jordan through 40-foot capacity
shipping containers will be $4,000.
Additionally,
the text states that goods arriving from Europe to Jordan as imports via 20-foot
capacity containers will have shipping fees not more than $1,500, as well as a
maximum of $3,000 in shipping fees for goods arriving in 40-foot capacity containers.
Head
of the Syndicate of Owners of Clearance and Cargo Transport Companies
Dhaifallah Abu Aqoula told
Jordan News that
he was pleased with this announcement as he had initiated the request through a
series of letters addressed to the prime minister and listing the syndicate’s
concerns. “The fees are in line with what we initially requested, and this is
positive,” he said.
Abu
Aqoula noted that “while the three-month extension of
Defense Order 31 is
desirable, we will continue to observe if these shipping fees are actually
decreasing. If we notice that the fees have not decreased by February 20, the
syndicate will probably call for extending the Order beyond March,” he said,
adding that the issue would depend on whether or not the cost of fees actually
goes down as some companies were not able to continue operations due to these
fees.
According
to Aqoula, prior to the pandemic, imported goods arriving from countries like
India and China to Jordan via maritime shipping were levied with custom and
shipping fees in the price range of $2,000 to $3,000, rarely exceeding those
price boundaries. “After the pandemic’s economic impact began to ravage across
nations, the fees for goods arriving to Aqaba ports began to reach astronomical
fees, reaching approximately $12,000, in some cases.”
Imad
Al-Dean Al-Kara, a shipping and transport expert who formerly worked for Levant
Gate for Transport and Logistic Services as an operation coordinator, told
Jordan News that “the extension of
Defense Order 31 is a helpful measure that will likely ease the financial
stress on companies in this field.” He added, “based on my conversations with
other individuals who are in the same line of work, I can confirm that many
Jordanian importers have been struggling with these shipping fees recently,
which in some cases have exceeded the price of the actual goods that are being
shipped.”
The
cost of imported goods depends on the region that is exporting to Jordan, Kara
clarified.
China is one of the biggest exporters of goods to Jordan, but
importing from China costs nearly three times more than importing from
Europe.
“It is possible for a Jordanian importer to purchase goods from China at a
value of $7,000, while the transport fees of such transaction can reach up to
$10,000, which exceeds the cost of the goods.”
Read more National news
.jpg)
.jpg)
