Jordan and Egypt have reportedly decided to lower fees collected from vessels crossing the Suez Canal to and from the Aqaba Port, according to Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily. After meeting with Egyptian officials, Secretary General of the Jordanian Transport Ministry Alaa Bataynah stated that cargo entering the Aqaba Port had dropped significantly in recent years because of these high fees.
He added that relatively high charges were exacted for these shipments, which were destined to either Jordan or Iraq, at the Suez Canal crossing compared with other ports. Consequently, some merchants opted not to make shipments through the Canal.
Jordanian and Egyptian officials have discussed the possibility of reducing these tariffs by up to 50 percent on shipment heading to Iraq. Whereas around seven billion tons of cargo passed through Aqaba en route to Iraq in the mid 1990s, Bataynah asserted, cargo loads dropped to a mere 400,000 tons last year. — (Mena Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
