Last month, Lebanese exporters were very happy when the Syrian government opened a key land crossing with Jordan that had been closed by years of war. This, they thought, would restore a much-needed overland trade route to lucrative Persian Gulf markets.
But lingering disputes between Lebanon and Syria mean that many Lebanese businesses still rely on longer and costlier transport by sea, further stalling efforts to restore an economy battered by years of war in its larger neighbor.
The land route through Syria, Jordan and Iraq is vital to Lebanon, which is squeezed between Syria, the closed border with Israel, and the sea. Lebanon's exports plunged from a high of 78 percent of GDP in 2008 -three years before the start of Syria's civil war- to a low of 36 percent in 2017.
Before, more than 250 trucks a day headed from Lebanon to markets in Syria, Jordan, Iraq and the Gulf. After the closure, that dropped to some 300 trucks in a good month, bound only for Syria, customs officials said.
An estimated 550,000 tons of vegetables and fruits a year used to be exported through the Syria-Jordan crossing, according to the head of the Bekaa farmer's union. Since the shutdown, that flow has dropped by nearly 40 percent, to no more than 330,000 tons. Exports from Bekaa to Saudi Arabia have dropped by 60 percent.
After the crossing reopened, Syria and Jordan imposed new transit tariffs on trucks heading to the Gulf. The Syrian increase alone was five-fold. Lebanon meanwhile subsidizes transport by sea.
Traders hope improved ties between Syria and Lebanon will lead to reduced tariffs, but Lebanon's political leaders are fiercely divided between supporters and opponents of President Bashar Assad, and they have been unable to form a government since elections in May.
