Aqaba Container Terminal announces tariff amendment

AMMAN — Aqaba Container Terminal (ACT) announced in a press statement on Tuesday a tariff adjustment effective June 15, 2014. 

“The adjustment is a result of consumer price index changes and increased utility costs,” the company said in the statement noting that the ACT has kept its tariffs unchanged over the last four years.

According to the statement, rapidly rising costs for utilities and services necessitate the adjustment.

“The cost of petrol has increased by more than 45 per cent and the cost of electricity has increased by more than 100 per cent since the last tariff adjustment of 2010,” the company indicated.

It pointed out that, overall, the cost increases represent more than 25 per cent of ACT’s operating cost which is no longer sustainable.

“ACT has, with due consideration to the shipping lines, changed the storage calculation for export containers to stop upon container loading onto the vessel in lieu of vessel departure and ,with due consideration to the local trading community, kept storage free-time at 7 days, as well as keeping storage tariffs from 7-14 days unchanged,” the company explained.

While the storage fees for the first 14 days remain unchanged, “ACT is inviting all stakeholders to continue working together on the imperative requirement for Jordan to keep increasing the efficiencies of its supply chain through faster clearance and evacuation of the import full containers from the terminal”.

ACT said in the press statement that it will continue to increase its engagement by investing in the container terminal as well as further increasing the productivity through already defined efficiency programmes. 

“Since the successful partnership between APM Terminals and Aqaba Development Corporation was established in 2006, ACT has through its shareholders invested $284 million including expansion programmes nearly doubling the berth capacity to 1 kilometre of quayside, as well as investing in state of the art ship-to-shore cranes and yard equipment,” it added.

“Furthermore, ACT has over the same period increased its productivity by more than 20 per cent in order to stay the most efficient transportation hub for the Levant region,” the company continued.

ACT is a joint venture between the Aqaba Development Corporation and APM Terminals — operating via a 25-year build-operate-transfer agreement signed in 2006.

The terminal constitutes the logistical and economic backbone of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, serving as the preferred gateway to the region for many active markets around the world.