The “Door to Door” Movement of Goods

This note provides an explanation of the concepts of the “back to back” and “door to door” movement of goods from the international perspective, and seeks to define an approach that will work in the local context---both in the near-term and over time.

A. What is “Back to Back”? 

1. A back-to-back cargo movement is generally understood as the transfer of loose goods from one truck to another---in its literal form, positioning two trucks with their backs to one another. Primitive variants involve labor-intensive handling and placement of cargo on the ground during the transfer. This process inflicts serious time delays and damage to cargo and is widely avoided in modern transport operations. It is, however, the hallmark of cargo transfer at every crossing between Israel and the Palestinian areas as well as at a number of checkpoints inside the West Bank. Even the new border terminals under development by the Government of Israel envision variants of this type of back to back system.

2. Conversely, modern and efficient back to back movement can work well for some cargoes. For example, it is common in modern container transport to consolidate loose cargo from one or more trucks into a container that is then transported on a single trailer. “Crossdocking” is the common technique used to implement this approach. It is more efficient and less damaging than primitive back to back methods because it involves a coordinated transfer across a level platform using mechanized equipment (forklifts and scanners, for example); this limits any direct handling of cargo or the placement of cargo on the ground.

B. What is “Door to Door”?

 3. The term door to door in international transport logistics s commonly understood to mean the movement of a cargo from its point of origin to its destination. It defines a type of cargo movement which differs from other common transport movements (such as “port-to-port”, “factory-to-warehouse”, or movements during which the cargo changes ownership). Thus door to door may involve a sequence of movements on different modes of transportation, or even temporary storage of the cargo en route. Critically, though, it involves the intact movement of a particular cargo---and is often associated with a single transaction in which a logistics service provider assumes responsibility for the cargo for the whole journey. For movements of goods within a single country, door to door moving normally refers to a single movement of cargo on one mode of transport and without any interim storage.

 4. The concept of door to door, as envisioned by the Palestinian Authority, has come to mean something different than the international logistics definition. For the PA, the concept refers to the movement of a cargo, intact and in a single vehicle, from the cargo’s point of origin to its destination. 1 Under this definition, door to door describes the movement of the vehicle and its cargo, not simply the cargo—and is akin to what is seen in international agreements as a right of transit. The PA advocates this type of movement in order to restore the status quo ante that prevailed prior to the mid-1990s in and out of Gaza, and until the outbreak of the intifada in and out of the West Bank. Given today’s security environment, however, it is unlikely that this type of door to door movement will be restored soon, or even that it represents the most efficient or cost effective means of transport---given the delays that are likely to be incurred in inspecting Palestinian trucks prior to allowing them into Israel (the exception to this applies in the case of the movement of goods between Gaza and the West Bank, initially by convoy and in the medium-term by road) .

5. In the trilateral meeting of June 19 between Ministers Mofaz and Dahlan and the Quartet Special Envoy on Disengagement James Wolfensohn, Minister Mofaz accepted the principle that door to door movement should replace today’s back to back system over time, and agreed that the parties should initiate discussions on how door to door movement can be put in place. Since then, GOI has begun to plan a program of extensive review of the door to door option. It is the Bank’s understanding that this review will take some time.

6. In the interim, though, it is important that ways be found to move beyond today’s deleterious back to back system---in a manner that ensures a high level of security for Israel, and predictability and efficiency in the throughput of Palestinian cargoes.