Botswana haulier echoes appeal for 24-hour border post

BOTSWANA’S RELIANCE on imports has drawn calls from various industry corners to enhance efficiency at the country's border posts with South Africa. “It’s imperative to keep the border posts open for 24 hours and this will help hauliers to speed up turnaround of trucks and reduce freight costs from South Africa to Botswana.” says KP Vijayakumar, MD of Imperilog Botswana, specialists in express overnight freight and bonded cargo movement into Botswana. The challenges in Botswana differ from those currently facing the South African freight forwarding industry. “There are no bottlenecks and there is no congestion here. You still get border queues, but with electronic clearances and EDI, even this is a problem that is changing for the better.” The attitude of the 2004- formed Botswana Unified Customs Services (Burs) and South African Revenue Service (Sars) to the freight forwarding community in Botswana is improving though it remains a sensitive area, adds Vijay. “The EDI/ ASYCUDA clearance system at the borders has been great, with delivery times hovering around 9am as opposed to 4pm under the old system.” Pipeline initiatives include the proposed SADC transit management system and the implementation of the Single Administrative Document (SAD) for transit cargo aimed at reducing queues at the borders. Imperilog Botswana’s revenues are up over 40% compared with the same period in 2006, and booming mining projects especially for diamond and nickel products are set to sustain and even grow this trend into 2008 and beyond, he said.