AMMAN — Traffic resumed on Sunday between Aqaba and
Egypt’s Nuweiba, with passengers welcoming the development as good news and
merchants remaining reluctant to reuse the route.
اضافة اعلان
The hiatus lasted for 415 days, after maritime travel was
halted when the COVID-19 pandemic started over a year ago.
Passenger transport operations will continue as before,
governed by health protocols which include limiting the ship to 75 percent of
its original capacity, and requiring passengers to provide a 120-hour valid PCR
test from any laboratory approved by the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Deputy General Manager of Arab Bridge Maritime Company Adnan Abadleh told
Jordan News.
“Jordanian borders annually receive and send around 800
to 900 thousand individuals from Jordan to Egypt and vice versa. As a transport
line, we provide ticket prices that compete with both Jordanian and Egyptian
airlines. JD87 is the round-trip ticket price for trips between Jordan and
Egypt,” he said.
The Arab Bridge Maritime Company, which is the only
maritime company between Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq, transports passengers and
also facilitates the import and export of goods between the three countries.
“Fruits, vegetables, coals, and furniture are imported from Egypt to Jordan and
Iraq, and Jordan exports paper, chemical materials, medicine, paint, and
electronics,” Abadleh explained.
The reopening was met with positive reactions from both
Jordanian and Egyptian passengers who have long depended on the line between
Aqaba and Nuweiba as a method of transportation to and from Egypt.
“I will be finally able to travel back to my family. This
could have been the third Eid I spent away from my family!” Qouds Hasan, an
Egyptian worker in Jordan, told Jordan News.
“All my Egyptian friends in Amman and I could not afford
to book airline tickets back to Egypt now that our income has drastically
decreased with the
COVID-19 situation.”
The Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA)
announced last week that the reopening of the border would increase trade
between Jordan and Egypt and will also increase touristic activities by around
35 percent.
“The closing of the border had a powerful impact on
commercial traffic between Jordan and Egypt. It also affected the facilitation
of Egyptian workers that work in many areas, specifically agricultural areas,”
Commissioner for Tourism and Economic Affairs at the ASEZA Sharhabeel Madi told
Jordan News in an interview over the phone.
The resumption of traffic at the border will have a major
impact on the reactivation of the economy between Jordan and Egypt since this
border specifically serves many migrant workers, Madi said.
“The biggest effect (of the closure) was on the
transportation of goods and specifically fruits and vegetables that used to
arrive from Egypt, which was affected for a limited time until Nuweiba border
was reopened,” he explained.
Daifallah Abu Aqouleh, chief of the Association of Owners
of Clearance and Transport Companies, told Jordan News that merchants usually
find alternate ways to transport their goods after any border closes down.
“Even if it (the Nuweiba border) reopens, traffic will
not be the same. Some merchants found alternative ways they have become
comfortable with,” he said.
“Merchants need to be certain that the border will never
close again to be able to continue their cooperation with the Arab Bridge
Maritime Company, which is a sophisticated company that allows merchants to
trade goods faster and in larger quantities than the ways they chose,” he
added.
Abu Aquoleh explained the alternate ways merchants had to
use included a Suez-Jeddah-Kuwait then Iraq route for goods exported from Egypt
to Iraq. As for Jordanian-exported goods, merchants had to use Aqaba Containers
Port, which is slower and smaller in capacity in comparison with the
ArabBridge Maritime Company.
Madi also told Jordan News that maritime transport is
cheaper than air transport and the closing of the border caused many workers to
refrain from returning to their homes in Egypt until the Aqaba-Nuweiba line
reopened.
Ahmad Tarawneh, a Jordanian medical student at Ain Shams
University in Egypt told Jordan News that he is very pleased with passenger
traffic resuming between Aqaba and Nuweiba.
“This will help me save airline travel costs and to
invest the rest in my tuition fees. My airline ticket usually costs JD270,
while traveling through Aqaba-Nuweiba costs me a total of JD90. It’s a huge
difference that benefits Jordanians and Egyptians alike,” he said.
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