Egypt imposes fees on Jordanian refrigerated trucks

AMMAN — The Egyptian government's recent decision to impose fees on Jordanian refrigerated trucks entering the country will negatively impact truck owners and drivers, a sector leader said on Tuesday.

Mohammad Kheir Dawood, head of the Jordan Truck Owners Association, explained that truck owners currently have to pay $100 (nearly JD71) per truck for each trip from May 1 to June 30. 

After May 30, truck owners will either have to pay $300 (around JD213) for each trip or $1,000 (around JD710) for all trips until the end of this year, he said, noting that the agreement governing transportation of refrigerated trucks between the two countries is renewed annually. 

"It is not clear if the JD710 per truck will only be the fee for the last six months of the year or if it will be an annual fee starting from 2018," he told The Jordan Times over the phone.

Over 10,000 Jordanian empty refrigerated trucks enter Egypt every year to make up for Egypt's shortage in refrigerated trucks used to transport goods to Gulf countries and Jordan. 

Dawood noted that the "brotherhood" between the two countries, and the fact that Jordan has over 800,000 Egyptian guest workers, requires Cairo to provide further facilitation of the entry of Jordanian refrigerated trucks.

"Jordan is also a big market for Egyptian fruits, juices and canned foods," he said, noting that good bilateral economic relations should be the basis for the "preferential" treatment of Jordan.

The newly endorsed decision will increase costs on truck owners and "equate costs with revenues", said Dawood, noting that transporting refrigerated trucks from Jordan to Egypt and vice versa via ferries costs $1,160 (JD823), while the two-way trip amounts to $2,200 (JD1,561).

The overall trip lasts at least 14 days, sometimes extending to 40 days, he said, citing additional fees Jordanian truck owners need to pay for trucks to enter Egypt.

The sector leaders expressed hopes for revisiting the decision, noting that negotiators from the Transportation Ministry did not involve the private sector in the deal.Officials at the ministry were cited by local newspapers as saying that Egyptians trucks entering the Kingdom will be treated similarly, and that Egyptian authorities had proposed a JD350 entry fee per truck per visit.