Truck tailback at Saudi border stretches for 9km

Monday, Apr 02, 2012

Gulf News

Dubai Slow processing by Saudi Arabian border officials are causing long delays for truck drivers trying to cross the frontier between the UAE and the kingdom at Al Ghuwaifat.

The delays have been happening regularly for the past six weeks and last night, the tailback from the border toward stretched for 9km towards Al Sila.

During the weekend, the queue had stretched for 20km, with some 4,000 trucks delayed.

While normal processing happens in 24-36 hours, the delays in recent weeks have been as long as four days, causing hardship for drivers and spoiling some loads of fresh fruit and vegetables.

The crossing is the only one on the Arabian Gulf coast and the route is a key trading link between the UAE and its neighbours in the region.

An official at the UAE border crossing told Gulf News last night said that between 800 and 1,000 trucks normally cross the border each day. He said he was unsure of the number of trucks waiting in the 9km queue. “Thank God there is a flow in their movement,” he said. “Things are OK. It’s 9km from Al Ghuwaifat. Two days earlier, it was 20km.”

Wassim Assaf, a partner and manager at Trans Borders trucking company in Dubai said that the situation at the border “is very difficult.”

“The queue is regularly 30km long and this has been going on the for past six weeks,” he said from his office in International city.

By Mick OReilly ?Senior Associate Editor ?and Jumana Al Tamimi ?Associate Editor