Border truck crisis is resolved

Abu Dhabi: Truck drivers waiting at Al Ghuwaifat border to cross to Saudi Arabia had a sigh of relief yesterday as Saudi authorities started expediting the customs clearance, truck drivers told Gulf News.

There is no queue on the road nor any trucks in the first parking lot close to Al Ghuwaifat mosque, which was always full with about 800-900 trucks during the past week, Saidu, an Indian truck driver said.

Even the second parking lot called ‘Taftish (means ‘search/inspect ' in Arabic) parking' was not full, he said.

More vehicles

The drivers said still about 2,500 to 3,000 trucks were waiting yesterday. Because five other parking lots and a five-kilometre road inside the border check points were full of trucks, they said.

As Gulf News reported yesterday, about 4,500-5,000 trucks were waiting in the parking lots on Saturday, although there was no queue on Sila road, according to the truck drivers.

"But, if it moves at this pace, no further queue will be [built up] on the road," Taqi Aziz, a Pakistani driver said.

But, Ali Anakkaden, an Indian driver was still disappointed. "I joined the seven-kilometre-long queue on the Sila road at 9 am on Friday and reached the third parking lot [inside the border checkpoints] by Sunday afternoon only," he said.

"Still, I have to wait two more days to cross the checkpoints," he said. "Lack of adequate number of toilets and non availability of restaurants and groceries make the life miserable here [inside border points], Anakkaden said.

Easing

Some drivers said, the weekend and the upcoming Eid holidays also contributed to the easing queue. "Always, very few trucks join the queue on Fridays and Saturdays," Ahmad Ali said.

Even transport companies have started dropping the trips due to upcoming Eid holidays, Mustafa said. "During the last Eid, I was trapped in Qatar for four days because the truck was not unloaded [there] during Eid holidays," he said.

"So, many truck drivers will not be taking the trips during the Eid. Moreover we would like to celebrate the Eid too", said Mustafa.

Delay: Illegal activity

"This type of crisis is a vicious circle, even if it ends, it always cause further problems", Saidu, an Indian driver said. All the drivers have suffered huge losses due to the delay in the border during the past two weeks, he pointed out. So, some of them may be lured by the temptation to take illegal goods for easy money [to cover the losses], he said. Whenever Saudi customs authorities catch [people with] illegal goods, the clearance goes slow and hundreds of other truck drivers will suffer", Saidu explained.

"During the past two days [Saturday and Sunday], the queue is moving fast, we all are praying that nobody amongst us is lured by temptations," he said.