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Trucks on the Move at Border

ABU DHABI & RIYADH - The issue of sluggish clearance of trucks by the Saudi Customs, which resulted in a serpentine tailback of trucks in Al Ghuwaifat on the UAE-Saudi border, was resolved on Monday following talks between the officials of the two countries in Riyadh, according to Wam.

The UAE delegation, led by Federal Customs Authority Director-General Mohammed Al Muhairi, met Saudi Customs Director-General Saleh Al Khilaiwi and discussed a number of proposals to overcome the three-week-long crisis.

The introduction of a computerised fingerprint system by the Saudi authorities was stated to be the main reason of the logjam at the border, the authorities said.

In a statement, Al Muhairi said the two sides agreed to simplify procedures at the checkpoints to avoid the situation from recurring. A joint team of technical experts has been formed to propose recommendations on banning the movement of counterfeit goods.

A senior Saudi Customs official, Abdullah Al Kharboush, said the proposals will be referred to a technical committee. “Yesterday (Sunday), 2,000 trucks were allowed to pass through the kingdom’s checkpoint. This is in addition to the 1,700 trucks a day originating from Saudi Arabia,” he said.

Al Kharboush said the Saudi border post of Al Batha is undergoing a major upgrade and expansion. “Works are expected to be completed in a 
year,” he said, adding that a project is currently under way to install two new beam detectors for checking trucks and containers.

“The detectors will be operational after two months. This will bring to four the total detectors at Al Batha post, plus K-9 units and other monitoring devices, such as scanners, for inspecting cavities in trucks’ bodies and fuel tankers, and devices for measuring container dimensions.”

The new monitoring system will make clearance procedures more efficient. The daily average number of trucks allowed to pass through Al Batha Customs on a daily basis last year was 1,250 and has steadily increased to 1,800 a day in the current year.

With inputs from Wam