Jordan Times
Friday, March 5, 2004
Aqaba Development Corporation, Danish APM Terminals to sign 2-year contract on Monday
By Khalid Dalal
AMMAN — The Aqaba Development Corporation (ADC), entrusted by the government to develop Aqaba's strategic facilities, will sign a two-year contract next Monday with the Danish APM Terminals company to operate and develop the Aqaba Port's containers terminal, a senior official said Thursday.The Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority's (ASEZA) Deputy Chief Commissioner Emad Fakhouri told The Jordan Times that the contract will help the Kingdom develop its containers terminal according to international standards and will help also increase its efficiency.
APM operates more than 30 containers terminals throughout the world and was selected by the ADC from eight offers received from international firms to operate the facility.
“The offers were financially and technically assessed before selecting APM Terminals and taking the Cabinet's approval to go ahead and sign the contract,” he said.
APM is the world's third largest terminal operator.
Fakhouri said that if APM meets the requirements set for the containers terminal over the coming two years, in terms of upgrading its infrastructures and fully computerising its work, then ASEZA might form a 25- year joint venture with the company to manage and operate the terminal.
Jordan decided to privatise the management of its containers terminal after running into a congestion problem which prompted international shipping lines to raise surcharges on cargoes bound to and from Aqaba and compelled shippers to look for regional alternatives including Syrian and Lebanese ports.
The congestion charges stand now at $300 on each 20-feet container coming from the Far East and $475 on 20-feet container heading from Europe and the US to Aqaba. These surcharges are doubled on 40-feet container.
Fakhouri emphasised that the management contract will not result in laying off any of workers in the containers terminal.
“Instead, there will be plans to train them and enhance their efficiency,” he said.
The official's comments came in response to earlier fears expressed by the Jordanian Ports and Clearance Workers' Association which described the privatisation “as a sign of a wide-scale layoff.”
The 540-metre-long container terminal handles nearly 250,000 containers per year. The figure is expected to double if the containers terminal was expanded.
Among the opponents to the government's step of referring the container terminal management to foreign company is the Jordan Shipping Agents Association.
The association executive manager, Mohammad Dalabih, said that local companies are capable of managing the containers terminal and enhancing its efficiency and that the problem lies in the shortage of equipment and in some regulations which should be revised.