AMMAN — Head of the
Jordan Free Zones Investors Commission
Mohammad Al-Bustanji was quoted by local media outlets as saying that the cost
of exporting cars has increased in the last two months from JD500 to JD1,000.
اضافة اعلان
The reasons, he said, are
Russia’s war in Ukraine,
the pandemic, and the rise in shipping prices, which “all had an impact on car
clearing costs in Jordan”.
According to the monthly report of the Free Zones
Investors’ Authority, the number of hybrid vehicles cleared during the first
quarter of this year decreased by 59.6 percent compared to the same period last
year. The number of gasoline vehicles cleared by the end of last March
decreased by 16 percent compared to the same period last year, and the number
of diesel vehicles cleared by the end of the first quarter of this year
decreased by 8.9 percent compared to the same period of last year.
Salama Al-Jabali, head of the General Syndicate of
Cars Agents, told
Jordan News that the increase in shipping rates will
have a number of negative consequences, most noticeably, an increase in car
prices and prices of nearly everything related to the commercial sector.
He added that car shipping rates have been growing
for a year now, and cars are no longer as readily available as they once were.
While in the past, a ship laden with cars would land in Jordan once a month,
now that happens only once every three months.
Jabali added that citizens are becoming more
interested in electric plug-in cars than in gasoline cars, “which have become
prohibitively expensive” due to the constant rise in oil prices.
According to Jabali, while car prices vary depending
on the type and accessories included in each vehicle, “shipping charges are
solely determined by the cubic meter calculation”.
Economist
Muflih Aqel said that the issue is not
just about rising transportation charges and their frequent fluctuation, but
also about a decrease in the number of imported vehicles.
It is not solely a Jordanian problem, “but one that
affects the entire world. Waiting for a car in
Saudi Arabia, for example, can
take up to six months”.
The shortage of some electronics and equipment for
the auto sector, as well as expensive manufacturing and shipping costs are two
major reasons hurting the automobile market, said Aqel, who blames that also
for the decline in the number of cars produced by firms like Mercedes and
Toyota.
“This results in a scarcity of cars and a low demand
for their purchase, which may be good news for used car dealers,” he said.
The shortage of certain car components, according to
Aqel, is due to the fact that the car electronics sector is based in Taiwan and
China only, making worldwide demand difficult to provide. This limits
commercial operations, he said.
Moreover, “there was a halt in production during the
COVID-19 pandemic, after which demand and commercial activity increased
significantly, resulting in increased demand for ships and transport vessels,
which led to a significant increase in their wages, especially after they were
forced to wait for long periods of time in shipping ports until they unloaded
or loaded their shipment, due to heavy congestion”.
The
Russian-Ukrainian conflict is responsible for
the spike in fuel prices, which has increased transportation expenses, said
Aqel, adding that “this situation will not change anytime soon since the
warring parties are attempting to win at all costs, regardless of the measures
employed, and as a result, the global economic situation will remain in
jeopardy and continue to deteriorate”.
Read more National news
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
