Long delays at the Nitzana Israel Egypt border crossing

The demand for the crossing on both sides has increased. Some blamed the Israeli Airport Authority, which manages the crossing for the grave situation
 
Long truck delays were reported last week at Nitzana, Israel Egypt border crossing, causing disruption to production activities in Egypt.
 
The Nitzana Border Crossing is an international border crossing between Al Uja, Egypt and Nitzana, Israel.
 
The terminal handles only commercial trade between the two nations. According to several customs brokers operating at the crossing, there were hundreds of trucks queuing up to cross the boarder.
 
Some blamed the Israeli Airport Authority, which manages the crossing, for the grave situation claiming the daily rate of crossing was 50 trucks only - Half of the average daily rate.
Felix Panias, director at UTi Israel, said airport authority employees had unilaterally reduced their working hours ignoring the above average demand, due to the Passover period.
 
The airport authority noted however that the working hours were changed due to Israel moving earlier to day time savings whereas the Egyptian would change over to summer time at the end of April. A spokesman for the Authority said that the one hour difference was the main reason for the delays. He added that the demand for the crossing on both sides has increased and that the Egyptians was taking the necessary steps to overcome the difficulties by building additional infrastructure thus contributing to the delay.
 
In the next few weeks the Israeli customs will introduce a new and more powerful scanner to the Israeli terminal thus reducing the long time required to examine the imported goods.