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• One of the only overland driver-accompanied services to Iraq has resumed services for the first time since the war.
Page 11
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Sevenoaks-based Orient Transport Services is running full-load and groupage into Baghdad and Basra, mainly carrying freight for the aid agencies.
Director Andy MacLean says: "The services have to run with armed guards from the Iraqi border, which can sometimes mean one armed man in the cab with the driver but can also be a convoy with a bigger security group in separate cars. The consignee provides the guards."
One of the problems in the aftermath of the war has been finding the person who is supposed to receive the loads.
"The consignees have often disappeared, sometimes literally," says MacLean, who used to drive on the route himself many years ago.
Fortunately the UN has agreed to take responsibility for these loads and there are a number of depots in Turkey. Jordan and Syria which take loads that are not deliverable.
MacLean adds: "Insurance stops the moment it goes over the border, so obviously we are taking a big risk. There is also no such thing as customs clearance at the moment, but we feel running the service is an investment for the future."