DAMMAM: The diesel crisis that first hit the Eastern Province three weeks ago came to an end Thursday morning as over 900 vessels took to sea with fuel purchased at local prices, as ordered by regional Emir Prince Muhammad Bin Fahd. The region's fishing flotilla had lay inactive in docks up and down the coast, paralyzed by huge rises in the price of diesel, until Prince Muhammad intervened last Monday to set a provision of 3,000 liters for each vessel per journey at local prices without duty. The move was due to come into effect the following day, but fishermen were blocked by the Border Guard who insisted on customs duties being paid, having not received official instructions of the Emir's ruling. “I called the Emir's Office in the Eastern Province asking for the reason for this,” said Khalil Al-Dhawoudi, a leading representative of the region's fishermen, earlier this week. “Officials told me that the ruling had to be approved by Riyadh so that orders could be issued to the relevant authorities to put it into effect.” On Wednesday, however, it appeared that orders had come through, as tankers began to unload fuel and boats docked at Dammam, Sayhat, Qatif, Jubail and Dareen, and fishermen prepared to set sail the following morning. “Fuel trucks were operating right through the night such was the demand,” said one fisherman at Dareen Thursday. “There are 165 fishing boats here just waiting to get out to sea.” With a liter of diesel rising to 165 halala compared to the former 25, fish prices in the Eastern Province have also increased considerably and the wider sector has suffered “considerable losses”, according to observers.
