Aqaba today offers an important economic model for handling the exceptional pressures facing trade and transport. Regional shifts have redirected additional shipments toward its ports, highlighting its ability to serve the Jordanian market and neighboring markets through specialized facilities and staff who keep working to absorb the growing demand.
اضافة اعلان
This capacity rests on a system of 32 specialized berths, supported by six logistics zones covering nearly two million square meters. This provides a base for serving containers, general cargo, grain, vehicles, phosphate, industry and energy, and lets Aqaba meet diverse trade needs, with the berths integrated with storage, transport and customs clearance.
At the container port, annual operating capacity is 1.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), with the possibility of raising it to two million by increasing operating resources. Actual handling reached about 680,000 containers during the first eight months of 2026. These figures reflect the volume of activity the terminal is absorbing and its potential for expansion.
The regional role is evident in the rise of transit containers bound for Iraq to about 37,000 TEUs during the first seven months of 2026, growth of roughly 930% compared with the same period of 2025. This jump makes the regularity of overland transport and border crossings essential to retaining the trade Aqaba has attracted.
Activity extends to the other facilities. Preliminary data available at the end of September 2026 show cumulative handling since the start of the year up about 63% at the cargo port and 36% at the oil and gas port, compared with the same period of 2025. The passenger terminal served about 265,000 travelers and about 68,000 trucks were moved over the same period of 2026.
What deserves praise is the effort of Jordanian staff across this system in receiving ships, unloading and loading, operating equipment and organizing truck movement. The variety of cargoes imposes different operational requirements, and maintaining regularity as loads increase reflects the workers' experience and their ability to manage the available resources.
Aqaba's truck traffic management system handles about 4,000 trucks a day, which makes the smooth movement of trucks between ports, yards and final destinations an economic necessity. On some trips, unloading and loading are completed inside Aqaba, while the arrival of shipments in neighboring markets is delayed by driver visa requirements, inspection, customs clearance and the schedules for receiving trucks at border crossings. Waiting and border formalities can stretch to about six days, and the full round trip to collect goods from Aqaba, unload them in Iraq and return takes ten days or more. This delay limits the number of trips that can be made and raises transport costs.
Economically, this movement is an opportunity to expand investment in storage, transport, maintenance and insurance. Seizing it requires continued development of infrastructure and digital transformation, and support for staff with equipment and training, alongside practical coordination with neighboring countries to speed up procedures, exchange data and organize the reception of trucks.
Aqaba today confirms that the integration of ports, logistics services and staff efficiency forms a base for strengthening Jordan's trade position. Turning the current increase into sustained activity requires every link in the transport chain to run smoothly, so that goods reach their destinations at a cost and in a time that support this gateway's competitiveness.
