The Netherlands will supply a top quality container scanner to boost Israeli security and enhance Palestinian trade by ending cumbersome unloading and reloading of open palletized cargo for individual pallet scanning that increased costs and transit times.
The scanner at the Allenby Bridge / King Hussein Bridge could increase the amount of trade flowing through the crossing by up to 33 per cent, something that will "help the Palestinian economy grow". The scanner will belong to the Palestinian Authority and be operated by the Israeli customs.
As it stands, West Bank exports must be loaded into boxes on pallets, than placed on trucks. The trucks then go to the Allenby Bridge Crossing where each pallet is scanned by a pallet scanner, and then re-loaded onto Jordanian trucks waiting on the other side of the border.
These trucks then drive to the Jordanian Port of Aqaba where the pallets are unloaded again, the boxes of pitchers taken out and then re-packed into containers for export, greatly adding to costs and transit times.
New container scanners will allow product to be loaded in containers at factories, and without further inspection move to the ship, reducing damage, theft and exposure to weather.
Former British prime minister, and a Quartet envoy, Tony Blair, was instrumental in brokering the deal. He said the scanners at the Allenby Bridge could increase Palestinian trade by US$35.5 million a year, which would yield $10.4 million a year to the Palestinian Authority in taxes.
