The Syndicate of Owners of Clearing and Goods Transportation Companies called on the government to intervene immediately and implement its decision that includes approval of refunding amounts paid by clearance companies during the truck drivers’ strike period last year, which resulted in storage fines and fees as a result of the inability of importers to remove goods and containers during that period, estimated at more than one million. Almost a dinar.

The head of the Syndicate of Owners of Clearance and Cargo Transportation Companies, Dhaif Allah Abu Aqoula, stated during an emergency meeting in the Syndicate’s building today, which included the Syndicate’s Board of Directors and a large number of members of the General Assembly, that the Aqaba Container Port Company’s decision based on the letter of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority No. NR / 7516 that includes The aforementioned refund mechanism is a circumvention of the Council of Ministers’ decision, which provided for exempting goods and containers in the storage yards in the port of Aqaba from fines for the storage period and any other fees and fines related to the storage process incurred as a result of the importers’ inability to remove these goods and containers during the shipping sector’s strike period. Noting that the head of the Aqaba Authority had sent official letters addressed to the Syndicate of Owners of Clearing Companies confirming that any fees due as a result of the inability to deal with them on the computerized system will be returned later, and addressed the Aqaba Ports Operation and Management Company and the Aqaba Container Port Company to take the necessary measures About exempting containers from fines for the storage period after the completion of the strike period and its consequences.

Abu Aqoula added that the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority must refund the sums paid by the clearance companies in full, as they paid these allowances from their own account and without any impossible conditions and implement the Cabinet’s decision as it is.

He stressed that all amounts paid must be returned to the account of their clearance companies, as they are clients, and payments were made from these accounts and the Cabinet’s decision was applied in anticipation of taking any action that would escalate.

And the Council of Ministers decided, in its session held on 12/18/2022, to assign the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority to take all necessary measures to exempt goods and containers in the storage yards in the port of Aqaba from fines for the storage period and any other fees and fines related to the storage process that resulted from the inability of importers to remove These goods and containers during the shipping sector strike period.