Shipping from UAE to Syria

Longest-running corridor

Re-export out of Jebel Ali and JAFZA

Re-export is the dominant movement on the UAE to Syria lane: much of the cargo is not UAE-manufactured, but arrives in Dubai from Asia or Europe, rests in a Jebel Ali free zone warehouse or a mainland store, and leaves again for Syria. Midtrans Shipping And Services was built on this corridor and holds its offices at both ends of it.

The re-export status changes the filing. Goods held inside the Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority area, JAFZA, leave under a free zone exit bill and never enter UAE customs territory. Goods that already cleared into the mainland need the original import declaration closed and a re-export declaration raised with Dubai Customs, with the deposit or duty paid at import reclaimed against the exit. We prepare both filings from Jebel Ali.

The origin document follows the same logic. A Dubai Chamber certificate of re-export states the country where the goods were manufactured, not the United Arab Emirates, and a Syrian importer's file is rejected when that certificate names the UAE for goods made elsewhere. We match the certificate to the manufacturer's invoice before the container is stuffed. Storage before re-export runs from the same warehouse.

Discharge port

Latakia and Tartous are not interchangeable

Syria works two commercial seaports and they take different cargo. Latakia is the container gateway with the stacking yard, and it is the natural port for goods moving north to Aleppo. Tartous lies further south, works general cargo and breakbulk across its berths, and puts the truck on the Homs road with the shorter run to Damascus.

We split the lane on that basis. Containerised commercial cargo for Damascus and the coast discharges at Latakia when the service calls there. Steel sections, machinery on flat racks, transformers, plant on skids and anything out of gauge goes to Tartous, where the cargo is worked over the quay instead of through a container yard. Project and heavy cargo is planned around that berth choice from the first enquiry.

Empty container return terms differ by port, and so does the yard free time before storage starts. We confirm both before the booking is placed, because a cheap sea leg into the wrong port turns into detention on the inland leg.

Inland leg

From the quay to Damascus, Homs and Aleppo

No consignment on this lane finishes at the port. From Tartous the trucks run the coastal road to Homs and then the Damascus highway; from Latakia the same cargo crosses to Homs before turning south, or turns north for Aleppo.

We move the container under customs transit from the discharge port to the Damascus customs office when the importer wants clearance done inland, and we clear at the port when the buyer wants the box stripped on the coast. Delivery in Damascus runs into Adra industrial city, the warehouses of the Damascus countryside, or the city itself.

A road-only option leaves out the port entirely. Trailers load at Jebel Ali, cross Saudi Arabia, enter Jordan and reach Syria at the Nasib 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. Road freight and LCL are quoted against the same commodity description.

Syrian import file

The document set Syrian customs works from

A Syria-bound file is assembled before the vessel sails. It carries the commercial invoice, the packing list with marks and numbers matching the container, the certificate of origin, and the bill of lading naming the Syrian consignee exactly as that consignee is registered.

Two steps catch first-time shippers on this lane. The certificate of origin and the invoice are attested by the chamber of commerce in Dubai and then legalised by the Syrian diplomatic mission before the documents travel. And where the commodity sits on a licensed or restricted list, the importer holds a prior import approval from the Syrian Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade, together with the bank record covering the transfer, before customs registers the declaration.

Our Damascus office files the import declaration and follows the examination through to release. The full procedure is set out on our customs clearance in Syria page, and customs clearance is quoted as part of the freight, not after it.

Consolidation

One container out of several UAE suppliers

Buyers in Damascus rarely order from a single Dubai seller. They buy industrial spares in Deira, packaging in Sharjah and machinery from a JAFZA trader, and each seller wants the goods collected separately.

We take delivery of all of it at our Jebel Ali warehouse, tally it against each supplier's invoice, re-mark the cartons under one consignee, and load a single container with one bill of lading and a certificate of origin per manufacturer. Cargo that arrived in a shared box is cross-stuffed into the Syria container instead of being shipped twice. Consignments below a full container move as LCL on the same routing.

Cargo on this lane

What actually moves from the UAE to Syria

The steady traffic is 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. Project consignments such as a production line, a substation transformer or a batching plant cross as breakbulk through Tartous with the lift plan agreed before the vessel is fixed.

Midtrans Shipping And Services carries commercial and industrial consignments on this corridor: full container loads, part loads, project and heavy cargo, industrial equipment, raw materials and manufactured goods, each booked against a commercial invoice and a registered Syrian consignee. Vehicle shipping on this lane is commercial cargo against a commercial invoice, and air freight covers the urgent spares.