13 January 2011
SANA'A -- A ban on couriers going from Yemen to western countries and many other parts of the world has caused several international courier companies to close down its operations until further notice.
The loss is expected to be millions of dollars for six courier companies that used to operate fully in Yemen since the ban was enforced early November last year.
"We had to let go 10% of our staff and are now only receiving packages," said Wadhah Shujaaldin, executive manager of courier service Aramex in Yemen.
According to Fedex in Yemen, which had to close down its main office and relocate to a smaller branch office to manage the remaining of its operations, the company has lost tens of thousands of dollars since the ban.
Murad Sa'ad a Yemeni from Ibb who has family in Michigan-USA said that he "could not send gifts to my family".
"They are used to receiving presents from Yemen every New Year, except for this year. I understand the security concern but this is an exaggeration. Why deal with Yemen differently than with Greece where similar bomb packages were discovered?" he asked.
Most western countries in addition to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are preventing courier companies to send packages from Yemen.
However, according to Sami Noman, media liason officer for the Kuwaiti embassy in Sana'a, the ban is exercised by courier companies and not governments. He explained that international companies have imposed rigid requirements on the courier service operating in Yemen to avoid liability.
A source from a well-known international courier company operating in Yemen, who requested to remain anonymous, said that many countries such as USA, Australia, Canada, Japan and European countries refuse to even receive letters from Yemen.
"There is a strict coding system and we have to abide by it otherwise the mother company will apply heavy penalties and even confiscate the packages," he revealed.
Dr. Mohammed Al-Maitami, a professor of economics at Sana'a University, said that this ban not only affected businesses in Yemen but also gave the wrong impression to potential investors interested in Yemen.
"This will greatly affect Yemen's national economy and portray an image of an unsafe country to the world," he said.
This ban was decided after explosive packages sent from Yemen were discovered in Dubai and UK late October last year. Both packages were bound for synagogues in Chicago.
The packages were sent via Fedex and UPS courier companies. Courier companies were not subjected to the same international aviation rules which require screening of all cargo in passenger airliners and goods on air freighters.
The Aramex office in Yemen said it has installed a vigorous checking system to confirm the identity of the sender as well as a state-of-the-art scanner which all packages must go through, in addition to a thorough manual check by the staff.
"We also prevent any one to enter the packages store room except for the person in charge," confirmed Shujaaldin.
SANA'A -- A ban on couriers going from Yemen to western countries and many other parts of the world has caused several international courier companies to close down its operations until further notice.
The loss is expected to be millions of dollars for six courier companies that used to operate fully in Yemen since the ban was enforced early November last year.
"We had to let go 10% of our staff and are now only receiving packages," said Wadhah Shujaaldin, executive manager of courier service Aramex in Yemen.
According to Fedex in Yemen, which had to close down its main office and relocate to a smaller branch office to manage the remaining of its operations, the company has lost tens of thousands of dollars since the ban.
Murad Sa'ad a Yemeni from Ibb who has family in Michigan-USA said that he "could not send gifts to my family".
"They are used to receiving presents from Yemen every New Year, except for this year. I understand the security concern but this is an exaggeration. Why deal with Yemen differently than with Greece where similar bomb packages were discovered?" he asked.
Most western countries in addition to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are preventing courier companies to send packages from Yemen.
However, according to Sami Noman, media liason officer for the Kuwaiti embassy in Sana'a, the ban is exercised by courier companies and not governments. He explained that international companies have imposed rigid requirements on the courier service operating in Yemen to avoid liability.
A source from a well-known international courier company operating in Yemen, who requested to remain anonymous, said that many countries such as USA, Australia, Canada, Japan and European countries refuse to even receive letters from Yemen.
"There is a strict coding system and we have to abide by it otherwise the mother company will apply heavy penalties and even confiscate the packages," he revealed.
Dr. Mohammed Al-Maitami, a professor of economics at Sana'a University, said that this ban not only affected businesses in Yemen but also gave the wrong impression to potential investors interested in Yemen.
"This will greatly affect Yemen's national economy and portray an image of an unsafe country to the world," he said.
This ban was decided after explosive packages sent from Yemen were discovered in Dubai and UK late October last year. Both packages were bound for synagogues in Chicago.
The packages were sent via Fedex and UPS courier companies. Courier companies were not subjected to the same international aviation rules which require screening of all cargo in passenger airliners and goods on air freighters.
The Aramex office in Yemen said it has installed a vigorous checking system to confirm the identity of the sender as well as a state-of-the-art scanner which all packages must go through, in addition to a thorough manual check by the staff.
"We also prevent any one to enter the packages store room except for the person in charge," confirmed Shujaaldin.
© Yemen Times 2011
