Syria ranked 92nd in the world in the 2012 edition of the Logistics Performance Index of the World Bank, a survey that measures the logistics “friendliness” of a country.

Syria falls 12 positions in the rankings, from 80 in the latest survey conducted in 2010. In the Middle East region it is ranked 11th out of 20 countries, from 9th in the 2010 survey.

The LPI is based on a worldwide survey of operators on the ground (global freight forwarders and express carriers). It asks freight forwarders to rate countries on key logistics issues—such as customs clearance efficiency, infrastructure quality, and the ability to track cargo.

The five sub-indicators of the survey are customs, infrastructure, ease of arranging shipments, quality of logistics and services, tracking and tracing and timeliness. Syria ranks best in timeliness at 73rd in the world and worst in tracking and tracing at 125th in the world.

All other countries in the Levant region fare worse. The Middle East rankings are led by the UAE followed by Qatar, while global rankings are led by Singapore, followed by Hong Kong and Finland.

In the past few years the Syrian authorities had announced their aim to capitalise on their country’s geographic position to develop its logistics and transport sector. The government awarded, for instance, the management of the country’s two container terminals in Lattakia and Tartous to private sector companies, in a rare move away from state-controlled infrastructure.

It had also announced plans to build two motorways stretching from the north to the south and from the west to the east on a BOT basis, although the projects did not move very far. In the previous edition of the index, Syria had seen a strong improvement in its ranking, rising from 135th to 80th.