Damascus-SANA
Many countries resort to importing from neighboring or close countries to reduce costs, especially with the rise in freight rates globally, which is reflected in the prices of imported products and weakens their competitiveness in local markets.
The new global economic reality imposed by the rise in freight prices, the head of the Syrian National Shipping and Logistics Association, Riad Al-Serafi, considered it an opportunity for Syrian factories to strengthen their presence in nearby markets, where the Syrian product can compete in quality and price.
Al-Serafy said in a statement to SANA that with the increase in shipping costs globally, merchants of neighboring countries, especially Iraq and Jordan, turned to importing Syrian products with high competitiveness, especially with the measures taken by the government and business sector organizations to support Syrian exports and secure their access to various markets, especially neighboring countries, which were imported from many countries. Including East Asian countries.
Al-Serafy stressed that the Syrian product has a good reputation in the markets of neighboring countries, especially the Jordanian and Iraqi, where the latter market witnessed a great development in terms of importing Syrian products, especially after the exhibition "Made in Syria" that was held in Baghdad.
On the other hand, Syria is also facing a rise in the prices of commodities, food and industrial materials due to the high prices of shipping products and raw materials, according to a member of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Syrian Chambers of Commerce, Pascal the writer, who indicated that Syria imports most of the raw materials and goods from Europe and Asia, especially China and India.
The writer explained that the price of shipping one container with a capacity of 20 to 40 feet from China currently ranges between 9 and 12 thousand dollars, depending on the port from which it departs, compared to about 2500 and 3000 dollars in 2019, pointing out that some cheap goods have become shipping costs more than one or two times higher than their price itself. .
Returning to Al-Serafi, the rise in global freight rates came as a result of the unavailability of sea containers or the unavailability of sea reservations or ships in the exporting country, which leads to delays in loading the goods from the exporting factory and the length of the supply of goods, and consequently a rise in the cost of shipping between 50 and 70 percent, which is reflected in the prices of goods In the imported markets, their competitiveness weakened.
Al-Serafy referred to the efforts made by the Syrian Society for National Shipping and Logistics, in coordination with the Syrian Federation of Transport Companies, to find ways and means to reduce shipping costs to and from Syria from other nearby ports, especially with the conditions of the unjust siege imposed on Syria, and many sea and air lines stopped working with it, which caused pressure On the rest of the shipping lines that serve the Syrian ports or the nearby ports.
Al-Serafy indicated that these efforts were focused on finding an effective alternative to compressing shipping costs and shortening the shipping time, which is reflected positively on the reality of shipping, pointing to the trend a short time ago to ship goods through the port of Aqaba, which is distinguished by its fast and high-tech service.
The association also communicates, according to its president, directly with the International Shipping Organization (FIATA) in order to find solutions for the sea and air shipping process and to communicate with agents around the world to achieve the best service in the field of shipping and the best price, in addition to holding some training courses to advance the international shipping sector and provide a good and trained national cadre in this field.
Ahmed Suleiman and Tariq Al-Sayed
