Facilitating trade and improving supply chain security through transit trade mobility: An empirical investigation from developing country

Figures & data

Table 1. Summarizes the Acronyms and meanings used in the study

Acronyms	Meanings
RITAs	Regional and International Trade Agreements.
TT	Transit Trade.
TF	Trade Facilitation.
CU	Custom Union.
JC	Jordan Customs.
GAAT	General Agreement on Traffic and Trade.
RKC	Revised Kyoto Convention.
WCO	World Customs Organization.
EAC	East African Community.
RADDEx	Revenue Authorities Digital Data Exchange System.
EU	European Union.
CTS	Common Transit System.
WTO	World Trade Organization.
ASYCUDA	Automated System for Customs Data.
GPS	Global Positioning System.
RFID	Radio Frequency Identification.
AGC	Arabian Gulf Countries
PDA	Personal Data Assistant.
MENA	Middle East and North Africa.

Figure 1a. Transit trade mobility at a national and global level involving two ways from Jordan to various countries. Source: developed by author.

Figure 1c. Export transit mobility takes place to the international airport of Amman incepted from AL-Zarqa free zone. Source: developed by author.

Figure 1d. Transit trade mobility within the country takes place between custom offices i.e. one to another. Source: developed by author.

Table 2. The international convention issues provisions applied on the customs transit (Arvis, 2011, box 17.3, pp. 284)

1. General Trade freedom. Generally devoid of technical support No difference based on origin or flag of the owner. Prohibits pointless delays or limitations 2. Trade effort of the customs Inspection parameters No custom duties No protection of itinerary or products. No custom taxes charged No protection provided for goods nor taxes are charged on the misplaced goods No pointless interruptions or limitations. 3. Well-being and security If there are no contamination chances then no sanitary, veterinary, or phytosanitary is provided for trading products. 4. Carrier provisioned guarantees The guarantee type is selected by the declarant as per the legitimate standards. Without any disruption, the guarantees must be discussed once the trade is completed.

Figure 1b. Importation transit mobility starts from Aqapa seaport to the local office of the custom. Source: developed by author.

Table 3. Semi-structured interviews and evidence of data-collection

Firm/Company	Interviews (#. of Interviewees, Interviewee, no. of interviews, and interviews length in min.)	Evidence of data collection (Location, date, and no. of hours spent)
JC	(4, Planning manager, 4, 25) (3, TT manager, 3, 45) (51, Internal employees, 51, 155) (6, customs officers, 7, 48) (8, IT manger, 8, 112) (1, Senior manager, 2, 21) (2, Internal employees, 2, 24) (1, Logistics manager, 1, 17) (6, Risk analysis manager, 6, 38)	(Jordan, May/June 2022, 8.08 hrs.)
TT Truck Drivers	(72, Truck drivers, 72, 378)	(Jordan at all terminals (i.e., land borders, seaport, and airport), April 2022, 6.3 hrs.)
Trading Partners	(1, CEO, 1, 18) (1, Vis-president, 2, 13) (1, Service manager, 1, 11) (1, Operations manager, 2, 18) (1, Senior manager, 2, 21) (1, IT manager, 1, 16) (1, Logistics manager, 1, 13)	(Jordan, April/May 2022, 1.8 hrs.)
Business Firms	(2, Vis-president, 2, 16) (1, Senior manager, 2, 14) (2, Service manager, 2, 22) (1, Site manager, 2, 6) (1, Logistics manager, 1, 15) (8, Business people, 8, 42)	(Jordan, May/June 2022, 1.91 hrs.)

Table 4. Summarizes the items/factors that are/and are not included in this study with other studies in the literature

Items/factors existing in this study	Items/factors found in the literature	Author(s)
Facilitating trade	Facilitation system, trade facilitation, paperless trade, determinants of trade, trade facilitation indicators, trade facilitation reform, cross-border facilitation.	Alfitiani (2016), AL-Shboul (2016), Huang et al. (2018), GTI (2015), Lim et al. (2017), USITC (2012), Kamga et al. (2021), Lee and Lee (2016).
Transit trade mobility	Regional and international transit trade mobility, transit trade corridor, international trade routes, logistics infrastructure and trade, transport corridors, developing transit trade corridors.	Lim et al. (2017), Diao et al. (2023), Alfitiani (2016), AL-Shboul (2016), Matrang (2012), Khan (2015), Duran et al. (2019), GTI (2014b).
E-tracking system	Tracking system, e-transit tracking.	Anarfo et al. (2017), Tegebu and Seid (2017), Alfitiani (2016), AL-Shboul (2016).
Strategic location of Jordan and TT	N/A	AL-Shboul (2016).
In terms of transit trade within Jordan country, how does the e-tracking system for transit function?	Internal transit, electronic transit monitoring.	Alfitiani (2016), AL-Shboul (2016).
Management of violation	N/A	N/A
Impact of tracking system for Transit Trade on smuggling cases.	Electronic transit monitoring, effect on smuggling.	AL-Shboul (2016), Alfitiani (2016).
Is the Electronic Transit Tracking System present in Jordan can be applicable for monitoring at regional and International level (Considering it as a regional centre or hub)?	N/A	N/A

Figure 2. Jordan location on earth (middle East Google Map, 2023).

Figure 3. Online monitoring of transit trucks (JCD, 2021).

Figure 4. Total transit traffic mobility through Jordan borders during the period (2016–2020).

Table 5. Total transit cargoes and traffic during the last 5 years (2017–2021)

Customs center	Jabir	AL-Omary	AL-Zarqa- Free Zone	Amman	AL-Modawarh	Al-Hasan	Al-Karak	Aqaba	AL-Karamah	Sahab	Total
2017	1975	5762	5312	3652	862	2723	762	6751	972	521	29292
2018	2231	6752	6001	4762	273	4821	812	7711	1011	599	34973
2019	5296	7762	8284	5982	630	5528	863	8973	1087	652	45057
2020	3967	2424	1629	1978	221	2923	659	3827	2167	752	20547
2021	4342	4143	3761	2872	482	3982	868	4823	3064	995	29332
Total	17811	26843	24987	19246	2468	19977	3964	32085	8301	3519	159201

Table 6. Illegal important violation cases during applying an electronic transit tracking trips (2017–2021)

	Total no. of Transit Trips	Deviation from the Pre-Assigned Route	Tampering with the Tracking Unit and/or the E-seal
Total	159201	6865	2722
Percentage of Transit Trips	94%	4.3%	1.70%

Figure 5. Total no. of smuggling cases before and after application of an electronic transit mobility tracking system at Jordanian customs centers (2000–2020)

Table 7. Total no. of smuggling cases before and after application of an electronic transit tracking system for transit trade at Jordan customs centers (2000–2021

Customs center	Before Electronic TT Tracking System (Years) 2000–2010	After Electronic TT Tracking System (Years) 2011–2021	Reduction (%)
Jabir	5505	1124	79.5
AL-Omary	2349	277	88.2
Aqaba-Free Zone	4652	926	80.1
Amman	761	41	94.6
AL-Modawarh	2012	261	87.0
Al-Hasan	2703	212	92.1
Al-Karak	1531	166	89.1
Aqaba	2651	342	87.1
AL-Karamah	1791	285	84.1
Sahab	656	75	88.5

Table 8. Transit journey time from Jabir border at Syrian—Jordanian border to AL-Omary border at Saudi-Jordanian border after an application of tracking system for TT

Truck Plate no.	GPS Unit no.	Transit Trip Time (hrs.)	Truck Plate no.	GPS Unit no.	Transit Trip Time (hrs.)
1	6726	3:01	11	1882	4:01
2	8720	3:27	12	0972	3:16
3	5621	3:51	13	6282	3:29
4	7871	3:27	14	8711	4:15
5	5179	3:38	15	2982	4:09
6	3586	3:17	16	1827	3:51
7	9727	4:21	17	4227	4:12
8	6098	4:17	18	6528	3:48
9	8726	3:15	19	5628	3:13
10	4881	4:12	20	6262	3:36
Average Transit Trip Time = 3:42 hrs.

Table 9. Transit journey time from Aqaba terminal seaport to AL-Karamah border at iraqian-Jordanian border after an application of tracking system for TT

Truck Plate no.	GPS Unit no.	Transit Trip Time (hrs.)	Truck Plate no.	GPS Unit no.	Transit Trip Time (hrs.)
1	7617	11:04	11	8729	12:25
2	3827	10:44	12	6728	13:54
3	8727	12:14	13	7277	10:45
4	6719	10:22	14	8724	13:32
5	5982	13:06	15	4744	14:11
6	8975	12:34	16	6729	10:54
7	4843	11:22	17	8373	13:17
8	9828	12:13	18	7111	14:11
9	6722	13:44	19	2383	11:48
10	3737	12:28	20	1726	10:04
Average Transit Trip Time = 12:06 hrs.

Figure 6. Jordan as a central regional office (hub) in the middle East using electronic TTM tracking system (middle East Google Map).

Figure 7. Light detector system can be installed within the container in parallel with electronic tracking system for TTM.

Figure 8. Despite the presence of the electronic seal and no opening of container doors, smuggling took place.

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