Shipping from Dubai to Syria

Corridor summary

Cargo collected in Dubai for Syrian consignees, by road, sea or air

This page covers freight that starts in Dubai: goods bought from Dubai suppliers, including the industrial spares traders of Deira, stock held in a Jebel Ali free zone warehouse, and consignments that arrive in Dubai from Asia or Europe and leave again for Syria as re-exports. For the full UAE-wide sea corridor, including the choice between Latakia and Tartous and the Syrian document set, see shipping from the UAE to Syria.

The traffic is commercial and industrial: building and finishing materials, electrical cable and switchgear, generators, pumps and industrial spares, food ingredients and packaging, agricultural equipment, and commercial vehicles carried as cargo. Each consignment is booked against a commercial invoice and a registered Syrian consignee. Buyers in Damascus rarely order from a single Dubai seller, so one file often gathers goods from several suppliers.

Our Dubai office, open since 2009, runs the UAE bookings, the Jebel Ali warehouse and the clearance desk. Our Damascus office, established in 1998, clears the cargo in Syria and delivers it. Sea freight leaves through Jebel Ali, air cargo through Dubai International or Al Maktoum International, and road freight enters Syria at Nassib (Jaber).

Route options

Road through Saudi Arabia and Jordan, sea from Jebel Ali, or air for urgent parts

Road. Trailers load in Dubai, cross Saudi Arabia, enter Jordan and reach Syria at the Nassib (Jaber) crossing on the Damascus highway. We use it for consignments that have to arrive in one movement and for loads that do not justify a full container at sea. The trade-off is border exposure: the trailer crosses two transit countries under transit documentation, and at Jaber and Nassib it either runs through with its seal intact or the goods transfer to a Syrian trailer, which means a second tally and packing built to survive it.

Sea to Latakia or Tartous. A container loads at Jebel Ali, discharges at a Syrian port and continues inland by road. Above the point where a container fills economically, a full container is cheaper and safer because the cargo is not opened between origin and destination; below it, LCL groupage costs less. The trade-off against road is handling: Gulf cargo for Tartous frequently relays through Port Said, and the port-to-consignee road leg is a second movement.

Sea to Aqaba, then road. A vessel reaches Aqaba from the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea without entering the Mediterranean, and the cargo then makes one road movement north through Jordan under customs transit to Jaber and Nassib. We quote the sea leg and the road leg as one price.

Air. Time-critical, high-value or small consignments fly from Dubai International or Al Maktoum International and are cleared through Damascus by our Damascus office. Large orders can be split so the urgent items fly and the rest follows by sea, with a separate invoice for each mode.

Gateways and ports

Dubai and Jebel Ali at origin; Nassib, Latakia, Tartous and Damascus in Syria

Dubai: the Dubai office handles the bookings, the documentation and the clearance, and the physical work happens at Jebel Ali, at the airports and on the road. Land freight inside Dubai covers the short movements the lane depends on: port to warehouse, warehouse to airport, and zone to zone. Jebel Ali is the port we book against, served by direct sailings to the eastern Mediterranean.

Nassib (Jaber), the Syria–Jordan crossing, is where the Gulf road corridor enters Syria. Beyond it the highway runs directly to Damascus and continues north to Homs and Aleppo. The road leg is described on our land freight page.

Latakia is the principal container gateway and the shorter road to Aleppo and the north. Tartous works bulk, breakbulk and project cargo and gives the shorter road to Homs, Damascus and the centre and south. In Damascus our Syrian office clears the cargo, handles air freight through Damascus and runs road delivery, including to Adra industrial city.

Equipment and cargo fit

Trailers, containers and air cargo matched to the load

On the road leg the equipment follows the cargo: palletised manufactured goods travel on a curtainsider, steel and crated machinery on a flatbed, plant and transformers on a lowbed, and temperature-controlled goods in a reefer trailer. A truck is chosen on volume, gross weight, dimensions, loading method and legal axle limits together, because a load can fit the payload and still exceed the space or the road limits.

At sea the cargo goes as a full container or LCL. Goods for one Syrian buyer that arrived in Dubai in a shared box are cross-stuffed at Jebel Ali into the Syria container rather than shipped twice. Steel sections, machinery on flat racks, transformers and out-of-gauge pieces are planned for Tartous.

Commercial vehicles move as commercial cargo against a commercial invoice. Before booking, our Damascus office checks the Syrian import rules for the vehicle's age, type and specification, because those rules decide whether a vehicle can be imported at all. See vehicle shipping.

Air cargo covers commercial and industrial consignments such as spare parts holding up a production line, instruments, components and samples. We do not handle household goods, furniture, personal effects, baggage, relocation shipments, small parcels or courier traffic.

Documentation set

UAE exit papers, the road transit file and the Syrian import file

The UAE side depends on the status of the goods: UAE-origin, imported stock, free-zone stock or re-export cargo. Goods inside JAFZA leave under a free zone exit bill; goods that cleared into the mainland need the import declaration closed and a re-export declaration raised with Dubai Customs. The Dubai office files import, export, re-export, free-zone and transit declarations. See customs clearance in the UAE.

A road consignment adds the transit file: the transit declaration naming the office of departure and the office of exit, the manifest, the seal number, and the driver and vehicle documents. Where the trailer runs under the TIR system, the TIR carnet takes the place of the national transit declaration.

The Syrian import file needs the commercial invoice, the packing list with marks and numbers matching the packages, the certificate of origin legalised for Syria, and the prior import approval where the commodity sits on a licensed list. Where the goods are of Arab manufacture and the exporter claims Greater Arab Free Trade Area treatment, the Arab certificate of origin carries the claim. Our Damascus office prepares the file before the trailer reaches the gate. See customs clearance and customs clearance in Syria.

Conditions that change the plan

Factors we review before we confirm a Dubai to Syria routing

Transit-country requirements. A road consignment crosses Saudi Arabia and Jordan under transit documentation, and the driver has to know which crossing point the declaration names. In Jordan the customs seal and a guarantee against the duty at risk stay in place until the exit is confirmed, and a broken seal or a route deviation puts that guarantee in question. We control the trucker directly on our own movements so that the exit is confirmed by us.

The arrangement at the crossing. Through-running at Nassib (Jaber) keeps one seal through the crossing to the consignee; transferring to a Syrian trailer means the load is tallied twice and must be palletised, banded and marked package by package. The choice changes the packing specification and the price.

Status of the goods and Syrian approvals. The re-export status decides the UAE filing, and a licensed commodity needs the importer's prior import approval before Syrian customs registers the declaration.

Carrier, airline and port terms. Carrier and airline acceptance, border and handling arrangements, and the empty container return terms and yard free time at the Syrian port are checked against the specific shipment before booking.

What we need to review a request

What to send the Dubai office with a Syria request

Send the commodity and its intended use, the collection address in Dubai or the Jebel Ali warehouse holding the goods, the Syrian delivery address, the gross weight and cubic volume or the package dimensions, the ready date and required arrival date, and the delivery terms if they are agreed. Tell us whether the goods are UAE-origin, free-zone stock or re-export cargo, and name the Syrian consignee exactly as registered.

If the cargo comes from several suppliers, send the supplier list with a ready date for each, because that decides whether the shipment consolidates into one container or moves in two. Before collecting from a warehouse we confirm the release, the package data and the loading access. If the cargo is already at sea, send the bill of lading and the invoice and we pick up the clearance from there.