Businessmen have expressed alarm that they might incur huge financial losses as more than 6,000 of their containers were stranded without clearance in Riyadh dry dock, Al-Riyadh newspaper reported Saturday. A number of investors said they were subjected to huge financial losses during the past six weeks as a result of their containers left at the courtyard of the dry port without being cleared. They said many of their factories had stopped production because the raw material in the containers was not cleared. The investors complained about the lack of any sign that the crisis would soon be over and the absence of any indication of improvement in the handling and delivery of goods. “Hundreds of investors have lost track of the containers carrying their goods in the dry port. They go there every day searching in vain for the lost imports,” an investor said. According to the importers, the problem began when a new operator took over the dry dock about a month and a half ago. “Our predicament has been continuing for many weeks now without any promises from any officials that it would soon be over. The situation will be further aggravated with the stoppage of sending containers to Riyadh from Dammam seaport where more than 8,600 containers are still in limbo,” said Muhammad Al-Shaie, a businessman. “We have no information about our containers other than the fact that they are dumped among thousands others in Riyadh dry port,” he added. Al-Shaie did not blame the department of customs and said the custom employees were working for long hours to solve the problem but questioned the role of the Saudi Railway Organization in the crisis. He said the port was given to the new operator without the usual procedures of handing over. “The new contractor received the dry dock with little staff and without any data about our containers in the computer programs which were gone with the previous operator,” he explained. Al-Shaie thanked the department of customs for giving them relief from the demurrage charges but said they would still have to pay fines to the shipping agents for the delay in returning the containers within a maximum time of 15 days. He said the new operator would not be able to collect his fees since the containers were lost for more than 23 days. Saad Ibrahim, an importer, said the problem could get worse in expectations of increased demand during summer months. “Because of the delay in custom clearance, the prices of the imported goods and the charges the importers had to pay, the price of the imported good would definitely go up,” he warned. Ibrahim added that “though the shipping and handling company imposes large sums of money on the importers for the unloading of the containers yet it is not doing its work properly on the pretext of lack of sufficient manpower.” “The delay in custom clearance has prompted a number of importers to go to seaports in neighboring countries,” he said. Ibrahim warned that the delay in clearance of goods might result in their damage or the increase of prices for the consumer.
