Is the seaway the export alternatives to Syrian crossings?

The Minister of Industry Hussein Haj Hassan reassured the agriculture and industry sectors that the seaways constitute an available alternative route for Lebanese exports. Speaking to Al Diyar daily, Haj Hassan pointed out that the air and sea freight has been in use by exporters in Lebanon since 2011, but traders prefer the inexpensive and fast land transport. In this respect, chief of the International Chamber of Shipping in Beirut, Elie Zakhur, concurred with the Minister’s statement while saying: “The only real solution resides in the Ro-Ro ships that carry trucks loaded with local agricultural and industrial produce to those Egyptian ports located on the Mediterranean, and then moved overland to another Egyptian port on the Red Sea where they will be re-shipped on container vessels to the ports of Dabba or Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and then proceed by road to their final destination in Gulf countries.” Likewise, Chief of the Lebanese Shipping Agents Syndicate, Hassan Jarudi, told the newspaper that the alternative is through shipping produce in air-cooled carriers to Arab markets by sea. Contrary to Zakhur, Jarudi stated that “the Ro-Ro proposal is not feasible and has only worked out for short and cost effective trips from the port of Tripoli in North Lebanon to Mersin in Turkey.” However, he added, that a ferry freight to Bur Said or Jeddah harbors costs at least USD 11 thousand including USD 7 thousand for the cost of transport of the truck and driver from Beirut and an additional USD 3 thousand the cost of rent of one truck and related paperwork. He recommended relying on air freight through new arrangements with aviation companies that will conduct full flights aboard large aircrafts. “A number of airlines have made generous offers, such as USD 0.5 per one kg of exported items to GCC countries,” he said.

(Al Diyar, 7 April 2015)

Is the seaway the export alternatives to Syrian crossings?

The Minister of Industry Hussein Haj Hassan reassured the agriculture and industry sectors that the seaways constitute an available alternative route for Lebanese exports. Speaking to Al Diyar daily, Haj Hassan pointed out that the air and sea freight has been in use by exporters in Lebanon since 2011, but traders prefer the inexpensive and fast land transport. In this respect, chief of the International Chamber of Shipping in Beirut, Elie Zakhur, concurred with the Minister’s statement while saying: “The only real solution resides in the Ro-Ro ships that carry trucks loaded with local agricultural and industrial produce to those Egyptian ports located on the Mediterranean, and then moved overland to another Egyptian port on the Red Sea where they will be re-shipped on container vessels to the ports of Dabba or Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and then proceed by road to their final destination in Gulf countries.” Likewise, Chief of the Lebanese Shipping Agents Syndicate, Hassan Jarudi, told the newspaper that the alternative is through shipping produce in air-cooled carriers to Arab markets by sea. Contrary to Zakhur, Jarudi stated that “the Ro-Ro proposal is not feasible and has only worked out for short and cost effective trips from the port of Tripoli in North Lebanon to Mersin in Turkey.” However, he added, that a ferry freight to Bur Said or Jeddah harbors costs at least USD 11 thousand including USD 7 thousand for the cost of transport of the truck and driver from Beirut and an additional USD 3 thousand the cost of rent of one truck and related paperwork. He recommended relying on air freight through new arrangements with aviation companies that will conduct full flights aboard large aircrafts. “A number of airlines have made generous offers, such as USD 0.5 per one kg of exported items to GCC countries,” he said. (Al Diyar, 7 April 2015)