Agents cry 'foul' over off-airport degroupage licences

Joanne Whittaker . . . none of the applications is being considered Alan peat IN THE on-going battle between customs and airfreight forwarders over the lack of licences for off-airport degroupage, the authorities have been accused of "paying lip service" to licence applicants. "What I was told two weeks ago, and what has transpired at the latest agents meeting with customs, are in conflict," said Pam Cornish, m.d. of EGL. "I find this totally unacceptable." When she held the first meeting with customs and handed in EGL's de-grouping application, she was told that the authorities recognised that pressure was mounting and hoped to have the issue finalised by year-end. But the latest meeting attended by air import manager Joanne Whittaker sent a different message. "Hennie Marais of customs stated that he had four applications on his desk and NONE were being considered," she told FTW. "The reason he gave for this is that there is no form or written procedure so they will just sit there!" Not that there's not an exception to this customs licence embargo. A major forwarding company was granted a licence last November after it had been imposed. This was raised at the recent forwarders-customs meeting, according to Whittaker, and dismissed as having been an administrative error. "We were told that someone who was not authorised did authorise it," she said. "Therefore that's that." But this is all just unnecessary hot air, said Cornish. "Why has customs not levelled the playing fields," she asked, "either by taking all the licences away, or by granting them to others." It's making the whole industry into "haves and have-nots", Cornish added, where the "haves" hold an unfair competitive advantage. "For the last five years customs has sat on this and down absolutely nothing," she said. Cornish and the other aspirant degroupage operations, also object to the Airports Company of SA (ACSA) plan for its own on-airport degroupage facility becoming involved in the issue. "Customs told me that ACSA would object to new off-airport degroupage licences being issued," she said. "But this, quite frankly, is revenue for them, and competition for the agents. "It is something in which they should have no say. It's an issue purely belonging to the SA Revenue Services (SARS)."