ISRAEL & GAZA CONFLICT MARCH 2024
LOGISTICS SITREP “FLASH” - UPDATE FLASH
ER@priorityworldwide.com
Main international airport of arrival is TLV/Tel Aviv. Main sea port is Ashdod & Haifa. Inland access to Jerusalem possible. Many international airlines still cancelled flights to TLV under security concerns, Israeli national flag and some GCC country airlines flying in. Main steamship lines called at Ashdod and Haifa ports Humanitarian shpts for Israeli consignees unlikely to be licensed or pay duties but some shipments can be subjected 17% VAT.
Displacements in the South of Lebanon have created humanitarian needs. Main airport at Beirut (BEY) receives widebody flights from GCC airlines, Turkiye and national airline MEA. Main ocean port at Beirut is served by major shipping lines globally. Tripoli Port can also be shipped into internationally with longer transit time. There is no humanitarian access for goods via Lebanon to Gaza or West Bank. Commercial warehouse facilities exist locally in Beirut.
Humanitarian convoy corridors assured by JHO, UN, ICRC/Red Crescent are operating ex Jordan into Gaza, however the frequency of these convoys is reportedly reduced & is subject to check and verifications. WFP/JHO and Federation all hold warehouse sites in Amman and Madaba areas. Logcluster as well as JHO are facilitating onwards convoys from Jordan on 2 main overland routes into Gaza, one being via King Hussein Bridge/Nitzana route and the other one being via Aqaba/Nuewibaa route. Convoy co-ordination services are provided and service request forms are made locally.
Imports into Jordan must have a duty exemption waiver to exempt from customs. There are also sales taxes (humanitarian shipments are usually exempted) as well as freight stamp taxes, customs declaration stamp taxes and Jordan Scientific organization fees (for medical shipments where inspections are needed) (AIR) Main airport at Amman Queen Alia International (AMM) welcomes wide-body flights from national carrier RJ, several GCC airlines , United Airlines and others. Plentiful narrowbody cargo connections as well. Air charter services are also available. (OCEAN) Main ocean port is at Aqaba, which is serviced by international steam ship lines as well as local/regional and NVOCC lines. Red-Sea issues with security and attacks on western linked shipping increase the probability for international liners to be diverted around Africa and away from the Red Sea, adding 3 weeks + for transit times as minimum. Some local liners can still access up Red Sea and there are options with trans-shipment via Jeddah and other ports into local liners. Overland access from UAE (hub) is also possible using box-trucks, pallets cannot be stacked for transport in this situation with transit times being circa 8-10 days from UAE. (OVERLAND) Border tolls, customs formalities and clearances also to add to trucking costs.
The Rafah crossing is the main crossing into Gaza still and is open although the access is still controlled Kerem Shalom goods crossing is also open into Gaza but heavily regulated.. WHO/UN (for UN/UNRWA), Egyptian Red Crescent are acting as main consignee entities in Egypt for onwards transport to Gaza. Logcluster warehouse in Port Said was discontinued in February-24, however Logcluster maintains operations in 4 warehouse sites in Rafah area (circa 2500m2 of storage) with 2 other warehouse locations currently on hold. UN provides transport service from Raffah warehouses into Gaza strip locations, pending security.
(AIR) – For air access to Egypt, the Gov of Egypt nominated El Arish (AAC) as main airport of access in Sinai Province. This is a charter airport and only charter flights are landing into AAC. The airport has been widely served by national carrier flights with airbridges from Europe, GCC and UAE. The airport has a commercial handling agent and is now charging for handling relief flights, however main airport control is via the Egyptian military. K-Loader is available for main deck cargo operations (eg B747F/B767/A330F etc have all flown ops into AAC). Fuel Is available and there is a cargo staging area and forklift equipment for onwards trucking from Al Arish.
Commercial Air access is via CAI (Cairo) airport with significant widebody cargo & freighter capacity via national airline, GCC carriers as well as via narrowbodies.
(OCEAN) – Port of Alexandria is the main port from Europe and West with main steamship lines calling regularly there. Port Said is also a port well served by main SSL . Port of Sokhna, closer to Sinai Province has received some UN food deliveries already and is less well served by container lines, with only a couple of scheduled calls from Jebel Ali/UAE . Red Sea security issues are causing western shipping lines to be potentially diverted via Cape of Good Hope, adding 3 weeks + transit times to sailings. Attacks off Yemen coast are more targeted on western vessels, local liners are still accessing via red sea and there are transit routings via Port of Jeddah for example, with local feeder vessels.
**Important note ** All ocean shipments to Egypt which require ACID (Advanced Cargo Information Declaration) ** ACID number is applicable to all ocean shipments arriving to Egypt and is usually obtained from consignee side to add onto PL and BL documents. Consignee obtains this ACID number from NAFIZA Egyptian customs platform by submitting a copy of invoice including HS Code for each item, with the importing consignee registered on a platform called CargoX. ACID number to be clearly marked on each shipping doc.
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