Customs and forwarders reach compromise over removal in bond rule

R10 000 road bond accepted by Customs Ray Smuts A POW-WOW could well end on a happy note for Cape Town's clearing agents involved predominantly with ship's spares following Customs' agreement to propose an alternative to what is seen as a restrictive and unwieldy new regulation in the offing. Last month Johannes Malgas, Customs branch manager at Cape Town International Airport, informed agents that a road bond effective from the beginning of December would become a requirement for the removal in bond/transit of goods within or through the South African territory, including those from the airport intended for Cape Town harbour or the high seas. What many agents saw as a daunting new decree hitting the smaller operator in particular, was that the bond should be equal to at least 10% of the forward projected value of goods to be customs-cleared in any given week and that the amount would only be restored on acquittal of bills of entry. To complicate matters, it would be up to agents to forecast what the forward projected value of goods would be. "That is impossible, an exercise in futility, as goods often pitch up without prior notice; a five dollar spare one day and 800 000 dollars' worth the next," argued Kintetsu Worldwide's Gordon Hall. He pointed out that had the 10% rule been in effect when the bulk carrier Treasure sank off Cape Town, a road bond of at least R100 000 would have been required to clear from the airport salvage equipment for removing oil from the wreck. "Furthermore, refunds of provisional payments are extremely slow right now, anything from three months to a year being common, and we just cannot afford to have our funds tied up for that long." Responding to Malgas following his advisory, Hall wrote of agents only specialising in handling ship's spares who believed they would go out of business as they simply could not afford the bonds envisaged. "I understand road bonds are necessary for the roadfreight transfer of bonded cargo, along with the registration and inspection of vehicles, but surely companies handling ship's spares can put up a bond of, say, R10 000 just to cover the delivery of removal in bond/transit of goods from the airport to the harbour? "We are trying to encourage vessels to use Cape Town's harbour facilities but SARS' new rules seems to want to chase them all away." Malgas subsequently met with Hall and Megafreight Services director Wayne Lazo and accepted the idea of a R10 000 bond as suggested initially by the South African Association of Freight Forwarders, subject to confirmation by SARS' head office. Forwarders are confident it will be implemented soon."