1. OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

Contrary to reports British airways will not be starting a scheduled service into Baghdad International Airport from 15 June.

The trial flight to Mosul proved successfully last week and the airport is now being used as the Northern destination for the Boeing 737 instead of Erbil.

SSA marine has appointed Barwil agencies to establish and operate an information center to coordinate all information needs for SSA marine's port operations at Umm Qasr

The general fuel outlook is very mixed. Iraqi refineries are increasing their production to meet the internal demands for gasoline, diesel and kerosene.

Since the beginning of the year the UNJLC website has received an unprecedented number of visitors compared to our previous operation and website.

2. SECURITY

Iraq: The HOC briefing on the 4th June warned that “spectacular” attacks were expected against Coalition Forces (CF) in Iraq within the next 30 to 45 days.

Jordan: The country remains at security phase 2.

Syria: The country remains at security phase 1.

Kuwait has been downgraded to security phase 1.

3. AIR OPERATIONS

Subject to RAMCC slot approval (see below) there is now a good selection of routes and airfields in Iraq. Despite this, the non-availability of fuel continues to be a constraint.

The Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP), published by RAMCC on their website (http://www.centaf.af.mil/ramcc/) contains much of the information necessary for flights into Iraqi airspace. Flights into previously unused airfields should be planned at least a week in advance to ensure the appropriate clearances.

The trial flight to Mosul proved successfully last week and the airport is now being used as the Northern destination for the Boeing 737 instead of Erbil. The Coalition has indicated that Kut airport may soon be available for use. UNJLC would be pleased to hear from any agency interested in using this airport.

Since the start of the Iraq Emergency, 850 tonnes/4,500m3 have been airlifted over 135,000 nautical miles.

The HOC briefing on 4 June indicated that the target date for the re-opening of Baghdad International Airport for full commercial operations has slipped from 15 June to 1 July, due mainly to lack of ramp space.

In Baghdad, Skylink, the contractors for the airport, report that a lot of the equipment at Terminal C, the first terminal envisaged to be brought on stream, is in relatively good working order and not as much work as envisaged will be needed to bring it on line, as first thought.

From this week, because of the non-replacement of troops stationed at the airport it looks as if UNHAS will be given greater responsibility in handling passengers’ at Baghdad airport. This will also entail taking photographs of passengers as part of the security requirement.

Contrary to reports British airways will not be starting a scheduled service into Baghdad International Airport from 15 June. It is highly unlikely that will even be in place by the 15 July, 2003.

The coalition are recruiting between 350 – 400 people to work at the International airport in the next few weeks.

The weekly UNHAS flight schedules are posted on the UNJLC website at http://www.unjlc.org/iraq/air/02_01.html.

The UNJLC together with UNHAS relocated from Larnaca to Amman during the week 27 May – 3 Jun 2003. For updated contact numbers please see “UNHAS relocation to Amman – contact numbers” in section 9.

4. BORDER CROSSING AND CUSTOMS

Given the amount of hostile activity in the area of Highway 10 -The Jordanian to Baghdad highway it now seems that some NGOs are looking at Kuwait as their entry point into Iraq

In Syria, following the Prime Minister approvals on 4th May and 19th April 2003 in which the Government of has granted broad tax exemptions to the humanitarian community, a letter was sent by the Prime Minister to the Ministry of Transport on 20th May to confirm that the above mentioned exemptions are including the port dues, service fees, and the SHIPCO fees, as well as handling fees (as a given national contribution). This decree was announced in the official newspaper and is valid since then.

Also see customs procedures for Syria on the website.

5. TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE

In Baghdad, the HOC is reporting a stabilisation in the infrastructure including a power increase of 30% over the past week to 1200MW and fuel steady at 80% of pre-war levels including meeting the LPG demands of 50,000 bottles per day.

SSA marine has appointed Barwil agencies to establish and operate an information center to coordinate all information needs for SSA marine's port operations at Umm Qasr, including updates on the status of the facilities, activities in the port and coordination of contact with the appropriate SSA marine operational personnel.

Iraq’s Transport ministry is now located at the Baghdad railway station and is only open on Wednesdays’ and Sundays’.

USAID’s mandate is to rebuild and reconstruct existing infrastructure and public facilities in Iraq. BECHTEL’s contract from USAID does not extend to new build projects. Ninety per cent of the BECHTEL programme will be sub-contracted. There will be large numbers of small sub-contracts for relatively modest amounts. For example, most sub-contracts will be worth USD one million or less. In this context, a sub-contract of USD 20 million will be considered much larger than average.

6. LOGISTICS COORDINATION

In Al-Hillah, a small number of private companies offer transport services with a combined fleet of approximately 55 trucks in the 15-30T capacity range. Transport rates from Al Hillah to Basrah average around 15,000 ID/MT, not including loading and unloading fees. The number for the transport co-ordination office in Al Hillah, where transport can be requested is 220 006.

In Syria, UNJLC has addressed a letter to the Ministry Of Transport, requesting a special consideration for the Oil For Food Programme goods which are already stranded or upcoming to the custody of any of the Syrian seaports (Tartous and Lattakia), and asking for having the first 60 days of storage for free, and following this period, to apply one slab of storage charges of about USD 0.15-0.20 / ton, until these goods can be moved into Iraq or intermediary stored in Syria. The answer is expected in the following days.

7. CIVIL-MILITARY COORDINATION

Recent HOC briefings have emphasized that ORHA has evolved into the Office of the Coalition Provisional Authority (OCPA) or CPA as it is more commonly known. The new name should be used in all future references to this body.

8. FUEL

The general fuel outlook is very mixed. Iraqi refineries are increasing their production to meet the internal demands for gasoline, diesel and kerosene. Basrah refinery has made a number of improvements designed to double the output. In addition, a mini refinery has been opened up in Nasariah with another to follow in approximately 2 weeks.

There are ample stocks of diesel around the country plus current production is compatible with demand.

Gasoline production has increased to meet about 58% of the internal demand. This figure has been supplemented by imports. This week, 2 million barrels of crude oil were sold from the Turkish stocks following the lifting of sanctions for Iraq. We have noted around 200 turkish oil tankers on regular runs to Baghdad.
The key factor required to sustain production of the gasoline is a chemical product called Tetra-Ethoylene Lead (TEL). Three large contracts have been identified within the Oil for Food programme contract. These contracts have been prioritised and expedited through OIP by UNJLC/UNOPS and UNOCHI.

The Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) situation is extremely poor. Recent looting has damaged a key installation in the Basrah Oil complex. Contractors are facing major security problems which have delayed vital repairs on the plant by about 30 days. UNJLC is assisting and has identified a number of spare parts required to complete the repair.

Through the Oil for Food Programme, the UN is expecting (a) 6,500 MT of TEL via Trebil; (b) 36 containers of LPG bottles per week via Umm Qasr port (the whole consignment totals 144 containers); and (c) 1* 20 foot container of oil drilling spares via Syria.

For Fuel availability in Iraq please see the website.

9. OTHER

Since the beginning of the year the UNJLC website has received an unprecedented number of visitors compare to our previous operation and website. By the end of May, the site received nearly 18.000 different visitors (122,201 pageviews or 347.654 hits). With the beginning of the crisis on March 20th, we encountered a major increase of visitors during April as we reached nearly 7.000 recognized individuals visitors (or 128.000 hits) for April and 7,636 (or 146,871 hits) for May only.



A UNJLC retreat was held in Amman on Wednesday 4th and Thursday 5th June 03. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss:
- Information Management, report formats, assessments, website and other information products;
- Fuel situation update and UNJLC involvement;
- Administrative & finance procedures;
- Field reports: results of the first phase, update, and future activities;
- OFFP/OIP: update on orphan contracts, new resolution and UN role;
- UNJLC activities and priorities for the second phase;

Following relocation to Amman, Jordan, the UNHAS contact numbers.

Regional Air Coordinator: Paul Steiner
o Email: paul.steiner@wfp.org
o Office phone: TBN.
o Mobile: + 962 (0) 7969 381.
o Fax: + 962 (0) 65 676 582.

Regional and Strategic Cargo: Einar Schjolberg:
o Email: einar.schjolberg@wfp.org
o Office phone: TBN.
o Mobile: + 962 (0) 79 6969 392
o Fax + 962 (0) 65 676 582

UNJLC Liaison Officer RAMCC: Keith Chapman:
o Email: keith.chapman@wfp.org
o Office phone: + 965 937 6427
o Fax: TBN
o Mobile: TBN