Jordan Customs Firms Process 656,000 Declarations Since January; Zarqa Exports Reach 43.84 Million Dinars in August
Companies operating at Jordan’s customs and border centres organized and completed procedures for 656,000 customs declarations between the start of this year and August 18, the Association of Owners of Clearance and Transport Companies told the Jordan News Agency, Petra, in a release that also showed commercial exports from Zarqa climbing to approximately 43.84 million dinars in August.
Customs declarations and Aqaba port activity
According to statistical data compiled by the Association, the 656,000 declarations processed since the start of the year included 220,000 transit declarations, 228,000 declarations for imports destined for the local market, 118,000 declarations for exports leaving the Kingdom, and 13,000 declarations for re-export purposes; as released, these four categories add up to 579,000, short of the stated 656,000 total, a gap the Association’s release does not explain.
Total cargo throughput at Aqaba’s ports reached 7.978 million tons in the first seven months of the year, compared with 5.363 million tons over the same period last year, an increase the release put at 49 percent. Of that total, 4.216 million tons moved through the main port, 2.910 million tons through the oil and gas port, and 851,000 tons through the passenger terminal port. Aqaba received 992 vessels over the period, while 298,291 loaded containers entered the Kingdom through the container port and 58,444 were exported. Freight movements through the Jaber, Omari and Karama customs centres totaled 267,940, 320,076 and 230,346 respectively, in addition to other centres, and 40,955 vehicles, including gasoline, diesel, hybrid and electric models, entered the local market or were exported through the Zarqa Free Zone.
On our calculation, the 656,000-declaration total works out to roughly 2,850 declarations processed per day, or an average of about 86,600 per month, over the seven and a half month period the Association covered.
Zarqa’s commercial exports climb
Separately, Petra reported that the value of commercial exports, or re-exports, from Zarqa reached approximately 43.84 million dinars in August, based on statistics on certificates of origin issued by the Zarqa Chamber of Commerce and its office in the Zarqa Free Zone. A total of 360 certificates of origin were issued during the month.
Hussein Shreim, President of the Zarqa Chamber of Commerce, said vehicles and their parts accounted for the largest share of exports, followed by construction materials and sanitary ware, medicines and related supplies, food products, clothing and jewelry, electrical and electronic appliances, and household and office furniture and stationery. Commercial exports from Zarqa stood at approximately 39.5 million dinars in August last year. On our reading, that puts this August’s figure roughly 11 percent higher year on year.
Wider trade facilitation context
Daifallah Abu Aqoula, President of the Association of Owners of Clearance and Transport Companies, told the agency that the flow of goods into the Kingdom through all customs centres and Aqaba’s ports continued normally despite regional conditions and tensions, crediting facilitation and coordination between relevant authorities and clearance and transport companies. He said Aqaba Port has continued to demonstrate its importance as a maritime and land gateway for goods destined for Iraq, Syria and the Gulf Arab states, despite regional tensions, closures and higher shipping and insurance costs.
Abu Aqoula called for expanding and developing the infrastructure of Jordanian ports and border centres, establishing new truck routes, reducing transit inspection procedures, and unifying procedures among the authorities involved in customs and regulatory matters. He also called for a dedicated national window for Aqaba Port, noting that 65 percent of the Kingdom’s import operations pass through it. The Association, established in 1982 and registered with the Ministry of Labour, represents 467 licensed customs clearance companies operating around 2,000 branches nationwide and providing about 10,000 jobs for Jordanians.
Why it matters: Customs declaration volumes, port throughput and re-export values provide indicators of the scale of trade activity moving through Jordan’s logistics network, though they do not directly measure customs-clearance speed. The Association’s data points to continued throughput growth at Aqaba even as its president flagged higher shipping and insurance costs tied to regional conditions, while Zarqa’s double-digit increase in re-export value suggests commercial activity remained resilient. For an economy where trade facilitation, transit fees and logistics services are a meaningful contributor to growth, sustained or rising declaration and export volumes matter for revenue, employment in the clearance and transport sector, and Jordan’s positioning as a route to Iraq, Syria and the Gulf.
Outlook: Watch for the Association’s full-year declaration and Aqaba throughput figures once 2026 closes, which will show whether the pace seen through August 18 held up, and for any government response to Abu Aqoula’s calls for a dedicated national window at Aqaba Port and new truck routes. On the Zarqa side, subsequent monthly certificate-of-origin data from the Chamber will indicate whether the year-on-year export growth seen in August is part of a sustained trend or a single-month gain.
Source: Petra (Jordan News Agency), Association of Owners of Clearance and Transport Companies, Zarqa Chamber of Commerce
