The advent of customs
modernisation has forced
clearing agents to reinvent
themselves, and for
Beitbridge Border Clearing Agency
this has meant new challenges and
new directions.
“We’ve had to become tracking
and monitoring agents for
transporters rather than just
clearing agents,” managing director
Lin Botha told FTW. It’s a service
currently offered from Beitbridge
only, but the company has hinted at
expanding its reach.
Long before the advent of customs
modernisation, agents wanting
to clear cargo at Beitbridge were
required to register with Customs
for which a R10 000
fee was payable – and they had to
pay a R100 licence fee. Now, for
the cost of a R100 licence fee,
they can register to clear at any
port in the country.
For BBCA, whose business model
was based on customs clearance for
other agents, this was a huge blow
and resulted in a significant loss of
revenue.
“At present we
get the trucks,
get the loads,
see the drivers,
and take all
the documents
through to
customs or allow
the drivers to
go through and
we check the
documentation,”
says Botha. “But some truckers are
not even sending drivers to clearing
agents at Beitbridge – they just
bypass the queue. We only hear
about them if they have an issue
or a stop and need your help,” says
Botha. And this is why a locally
based agent is critically important,
in her view.
Another area into which the
company has diversified is customs
supervisions. “We went out and
looked for supervision work where
customs needed to check transit
loads – that
the same cargo
was leaving the
country as had
come in. If you
process a transit
entry you’re not
obliged to pay
duties because it’s
only coming in
and leaving – but
you have to prove
to customs that goods have left the
country,” said Botha.
“In another modernisation move,
customs then said we were actually
delaying the trucks by supervising
them and decided they would do a
marked for entry and marked for
exit and dispense with supervision –
so we lost another batch of revenue.”
However, despite these challenges
BBCA has managed to continue
growing and diversifying.
“We consider ourselves to be a
vital cog in the whole supply chain,”
said Botha. “People assume that
the drivers can do everything for
themselves until the wheels fall off.
But it’s not really that simple and
we’ve been blessed in that a lot of
clients do understand the value that
we add.
“We’re the middle guys
between the importers, exporters,
transporters, drivers and customs.
“We’ve elected to act as
transporters’ representatives so that
drivers report here when they need
money, tolls etc. The idea is to make
ourselves indispensable in many
ways. Transporters ask importers
and exporters to use us because it’s
simpler for the transporter to work
through someone who has their best
interests at heart.”
INSERT & CAPTION
People assume that the
drivers can do everything
for themselves until the
wheels fall off.
– Lin Botha
