Lybia, containers are being offloaded

Tripoli - The Italian embassy in Tripoli was closed and Italian citizens in Libya were evacuated, but the commercial relations between the African country and Italy are not yet extinct. Trade maintains a slender thread of contact between the two countries at a time of dramatic conflicts and will continue to do so as long as shipping companies, that are reviewing their programme every hour, consider these ports safe enough for their vessels. Messina, Tarros and MSC, the main shipping operators that connect Italy to Libya, guaranteed the transport of goods to the ports of Tripoli, Khoms and Misurata, at least they did the day before yesterday, despite the ongoing fighting in many parts of the country. Even yesterday, the national day of celebration for the anniversary of the revolution against Gaddafi, a Messina ship was scheduled to leave for Libya. The port of Benghazi has not been included yet, although rumors say that it is now open, however, security is not guaranteed. Traffic to Libya continues, in spite of conditions considered very difficult, as evidenced by Arnaldo Compagnucci, responsible for Libya’s Arabital shipping agency, which opened an office in Tripoli operated by local staff. Just yesterday, Compagnucci met in Italy with a Libyan customer interested in importing Italian goods. “The embassy was closed, so any new customer must still have a valid visa. Our Libyan customers,” says the Italian dispatcher, “want to continue trading. They want to keep in touch because they are convinced that all this will end sooner or later. If they let the contacts drop, they’d lose four months to restart everything.” Arabital’s activities focus on Tripolitania, containers are not being shipped out of Cyrenaica. “The port of Tobruk,” says Compagnucci, “is open, but it does not guarantee safety. “

What is surprising is that there are still large companies willing to import and to focus on the economic development of the country. “We do not send only food. Italy ships out furniture, machinery, an entire factory for the manufacturing of prefabricated units and another one for the manufacture of bricks.” The existing confusion, however, makes simple operations difficult such as payments. On the one hand, there is the uncertainty in the value of the dinar. Officially, the rate is listed at 1.65 dinars per euro, but on the black market it goes up to 2.2 dinars per euro. Payments are made by letter of credit, “But if before you had to pay 20% in advance, now we require 100%. And the exchange is made at 1.65.” And the relations with the public administration? “We work with private entities and we have relationships with the Customs office active in every port. I do not know, however, to which authority these customs offices report to. Our activity is performed with many precautions. Over time, we were able to gain respect in the marketplace. Our business is limited to shipments and does not go beyond that. “The deteriorating situation transpires, however, from the different political positions of customers against the various forces in the field. If you were previously linked to one of the two main factions, since Isis appeared on the political arena, sympathies are distributed among different factions. Compagnucci has not been able to visit Libya for several months and relies on a local experienced director: “We know what to do. We believe a lot in this country, we have invested for 10 years. The ruling Libyan classes are interested in stability, not religious extremism, although democracy is an unknown concept. “