Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05ADANA205
2005-11-17 13:55:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Consulate Adana
Cable title:  

HABUR GATE CLOGGED BY CONSTRUCTION IN NEAR-TERM

Tags:  ECON ELTN MOPS MARR IZ SY TU ADANA 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADANA 000205 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ELTN MOPS MARR IZ SY TU ADANA
SUBJECT: HABUR GATE CLOGGED BY CONSTRUCTION IN NEAR-TERM

REF: BAGHAD 4484
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADANA 000205

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ELTN MOPS MARR IZ SY TU ADANA
SUBJECT: HABUR GATE CLOGGED BY CONSTRUCTION IN NEAR-TERM

REF: BAGHAD 4484

1.(SBU) Summary: AMCON Adana conoffs visited the Habur gate on
November 9, attending the weekly border meeting, discussing
issues in side meetings with U.S. logistics officials and SOMO
representatives and surveying the new Sirnak province vehicle
staging yard. The gate's operations were seen to be diminished
by ongoing demolition and construction operations, which are
part of the TOBB Chambers of Commerce-linked renovation project.
Discussion at the weekly meeting was stilted, but did feature a
general acknowledgement by the Turkish MFA representative
hosting the meeting that fuel issues were a central issue for
Iraq in the coming months. Turkish trucker groups also demanded
"an end to prejudicial practices which give priority to
coalition cargo and SOMO trucks." Turkish officials, in sidebar
discussions, noted continuing GoT sensitivity about fuel
smuggling within and into Turkey. End Summary:

Weekly Meeting pro forma...
--------------

2.(SBU) Discussion at the weekly meeting was stilted. Both
Iraqi customs officials and the SOMO representative stressed
that energy issues were a central concern for Iraq in the coming
months and called on Turkey to do all it could to assist Iraqi
reconstruction through speedy provision of energy resources.
The SOMO representative noted that Iraq also needed more Turkish
electrical power, eliciting a Turkish reply that Sirnak province
itself, where the Habur gate is situated, is short of electrical
power and that work on the gate renovation project has been
slowed by the need to rely on old, under-capacity generators
part of each work day. Nevertheless, this Turkish-Iraqi
exchange eventually yielded a general oral reflection by the
Turkish MFA representative, who noted his own lack of authority
to take a formal position, that fuel issues were a central issue
for Iraq in the coming months. The MFA representative also
said that he "informally would like to say that SOMO's payment
of its bills might assist the situation." Still, he said that
his door was "open anytime to Iraqi customs officials with
specific proposals to discuss."


...Except for Turkish Trucker complaints
--------------

3.(SBU) Turkish trucker groups also demanded "an end to
prejudicial practices which give priority to coalition cargo and
SOMO trucks." Specifically, they complained that northbound
coalition non-fuel cargo trucks should not be given
"preferential treatment to re-enter Turkey." "They have no
refrigerated cargo or special materials in them coming back.
They can wait like everyone else," he said," and all those
tanker probably don't need to go to the front of the line." Upon
some counter commentary by several Iraqi officials, he seemed to
distance himself from including coalition tankers in his
demands. (Comment: Turkish officials later said that they have
to "deal with trucker group demands," but would not be driven by
them on pressing "real coalition needs." Nevertheless, it
seemed that they did not mind the trucker group statements since
they were illustrative of the other factors at work at the gate
beyond Iraqi and Coalition fuel concerns. End Comment.).Turkish
officials, in sidebar discussions, also noted continuing GoT
sensitivity about fuel smuggling into Iraq. They also said that
unnamed Turkish security officials were concerned about a "lack
of central authority" and a "power vacuum," explaining why
security screening northbound had been increased in the last
week. Without being too laudatory, they also expressed
contentment with corresponding Iraqi security pre-screening.

SOMO explains its attempts to diversify northern route fuel
sources
-------------- --------------
--------------

4.(SBU) The SOMO representative also announced that SOMO and
TPIC, the Turkish State Petroleum Company, had signed a deal on
or about Nov. 8 for construction of a small pipeline near the
Habur Gate. He said that the pipeline's initial capacity would
amount to about 60 tankers a day of current Habur gate transit
traffic (out of a daily SOMO-desired 1,000 transits a day),but
could grow in capacity to a possible 100-120 tanker-a-day
equivalent "in the future." He said that construction of the
pipeline from a TPIC existing spur line to the Turkish-Iraqi
border already was almost complete. (Comment: U.S. military
sources knowledgeable of the pipeline said it was a good start,
but far too small a capacity to affect civilian fuel supply
shortages. They also said that any growth in its initial
capacity was many months to over a year distant. End Comment.)
Iraqi border officials were silent on when the matching
receiving pipeline would be ready, but the SOMO official said it
was "an important project for (SOMO) to complete." The SOMO
representative also recalled to the group that Iraq had opened
its al-Hrabiyah border gate with Syria for fuel transits, but
that its capacity was limited to about a maximum of a hundred
tankers a day. Turkish officials observed that Turkish truckers
had used that gate briefly before and there were too many
security problems in the area near Tal Afar for it to be a
sustainable answer. The SOMO representative said that a new
Iraqi military or police unit provided security now and that the
al-Hrabiyah gate was closed to Turkish drivers. Still, he
agreed that the gate's capacity was limited. Both Iraqi customs
officials and the SOMO representative also agreed that the rail
spur from Turkey (at Nusaybin) to Iraq through Syria was too
costly and ill maintained for weighty fuel and cement loads, but
was being used now for some limited delivery of food and light
cargo.

SOMO sidebar
--------------

5.(SBU) AMCON Adana conoffs spoke with the SOMO representative
on the margin of the meetings to pass on observations that few
SOMO-related tankers had been observed moving toward the Habur
gate Nov. 7-9. Asked about the Turkish MFA representative's
observation on the catalyst additional payments to SOMO might
make, the SOMO representative said that the Iraqi Finance
Ministry insisted that it did not have the remaining USD 350
million that SOMO thought it still owed. He said he would pass
on the Turkish comments and that SOMO probably would ask the
Coalition to pay its fuel debt.

New Staging Yard could help, but not a panacea
-------------- --------------

6.(SBU) AMCON Adana conoffs then surveyed the new Sirnak
province vehicle staging yard which is claimed to have a 5,000
vehicle marshalling capacity. It lies directly outside the
entrance to the Habur Gate customs control area and is enclosed
by a concrete and block wall with occasional (unmanned) watch
towers. A restaurant, bathroom complex, showers, and small
mosque were under construction. We were told that there were
3,000 vehicles in the yard, which reportedly opened on or about
Nov. 7. We spot counted about 350 tankers in a corner of the
yard, suggesting that the overall 3,000 count seemed roughly
credible. Vehicles were divided into tanker and non-tankers and
it appeared there was a de facto policy to park LNG/LPG tankers
outside the facility. It is staffed by twenty province
employees from random province departments and is charging five
YTL (or about USD3.50) for each stay. Overall, it creates a
staging capability which did not exist before which may
facilitate tracking coalition cargo. Its chief drawbacks
appeared to be its dirt and stone parking bed, which could well
turn to mud as soon as winter rains arrive, and inexperienced
staff who never had worked with traffic or cargo before the
prior week. Several police were directing traffic near its
entrance when we arrived, but there were no police or staff
directing traffic inside. Nor were there any outside when we
left a half hour later. (Comment: Local staff at the yard
plainly said that the province had built the yard as a money
maker perceiving that the province, despite bearing traffic and
road costs, was making no revenue from transiting cargo without
such a method to get involved in gate-related revenue
collection. End Comment.)

TOBB pleased with progress, but sees extension necessary
-------------- --------------

7.(SBU) Conoffs met later with the Sirnak TOBB representative,
who expressed pleasure at the pace of demolition and initial
construction at the gate site so far. Nevertheless, he said
that some materials scheduling delays, additional GoT small
projects and poor power provisions were slowing progress. He
suggested that TOBB soon would request a four-month extension to
the project, which currently is set to conclude in June, 2006.
He also confirmed that expanding gate capacity was not an aim of
the renovation project. Instead its focus is modernizing the
gate's automated systems, replacing its processing lanes and
parking aprons, and re-surfacing its two bridges.

Comment
--------------

8 (SBU) The poor physical state of the gate was striking. We
found it remarkable that the gate was managing to operate at all
given widespread demolition, scattered piles of construction
material on customs aprons, widespread debris fields, and
seemingly endless snaking internal movement of vehicles.
Discussion of boosting its capacity until much more of the
renovation project is completed is not likely to be fruitful.
End Comment.
REID