27 September 2011
DAMMAM - Ships arriving at the King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam during the Eid Al-Fitr holiday have caused the backlog of containers waiting for clearance to reach an unprecedented level, said Naeem Al-Naeem, director of the facility.
The number of containers reached 26,066, which is 50 percent more than the normal number, 17,000, that await clearance, he said.
There are several reasons for the problem, according to Al-Naeem. "First, work during the Eid Al-Fitr holiday did not stop and ships continued to unload containers," he said. "Twenty-one ships reached the port and unloaded 32,415 containers. Another reason is that not many people showed up to claim their containers during the holiday."
Al-Naeem said that now that the holiday has ended, many people have come to claim their goods, which has caused traffic congestion at the entrance and disrupted operations. The Customs Department and the Ports Department have exerted great efforts to deal with this problem and have organized the entrance of trucks, he added.
DAMMAM - Ships arriving at the King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam during the Eid Al-Fitr holiday have caused the backlog of containers waiting for clearance to reach an unprecedented level, said Naeem Al-Naeem, director of the facility.
The number of containers reached 26,066, which is 50 percent more than the normal number, 17,000, that await clearance, he said.
There are several reasons for the problem, according to Al-Naeem. "First, work during the Eid Al-Fitr holiday did not stop and ships continued to unload containers," he said. "Twenty-one ships reached the port and unloaded 32,415 containers. Another reason is that not many people showed up to claim their containers during the holiday."
Al-Naeem said that now that the holiday has ended, many people have come to claim their goods, which has caused traffic congestion at the entrance and disrupted operations. The Customs Department and the Ports Department have exerted great efforts to deal with this problem and have organized the entrance of trucks, he added.
© The Saudi Gazette 2011
