Customs rescinds ban on weekend clearance of ships' spares

ALWAYS GO to the top for satisfaction which is exactly what an angry Cape Town freight community has done to reverse what they say was an 'arbitrary' Customs decision to no longer clear airfreight ships' spares over weekends.
The Western Cape branch of the South African Association of Freight Forwarders, frustrated at not being advised of the 'ban' and unable to reach Johannes Malgas, the Customs manager at Cape Town International Airport, went over his head - much to his chagrin - to rescind a ruling he (Malgas) insists was never issued.
SAAFF's executive director Ed Little contacted Pretoria-based Phil Kuyler, the manager of air modality in Customs, to outline the situation.
Kuyler was unable to make immediate contact with Malgas who was in training as part of the whole Siyakha transformation underway but succeeded the following day, instructing him to normalise the situation with one strict proviso: Clearing agents wishing to collect ship's spares over weekends should forward in advance information for the bill of entry either by way of EDI or stiffy as Customs is unable to capture data there and then.
The question that remains unanswered is how the weekend ban came about in the first place? In two conversations between this correspondent and Malgas he denied ever having issued such an order, saying a "miscommunication" had occurred somewhere along the line. "But I don't have any problem. I can accept responsibility."
Malgas explained past practice - what he termed a "long-standing customer service" - had been to merely stamp documents which he believed left Customs with very little control.
The problem first became evident when Gordon Hall, regional manager for clearing agents Kintetsu World Express, a large handler of ship's spares, went to the airport on a Sunday in September to be told by the duty Customs officer that spares could no longer be collected over weekends - this without any prior warning although the new way of doing things had reached him by "word of mouth."
Only after the duty officer had spoken telephonically to Evelyn Borchards, the Customs team leader in charge of imports and exports, was the consignment cleared.
"Even though the ship's spares issue has now been cleared up we are not entirely happy because Customs has also stopped the facility we had of stamping urgent exports after hours." (SAAFF is seeking a special meeting with Sars in this regard.)
Also concerned at the weekend stoppages was Michelle Trimborn, branch manager of Maersk Logistics Southern Africa, who told me while she found Sars Cape Town to be more efficient than its Durban counterpart "they have a long way to go in communicating with the industry and we hope there will be better future consultation on their part prior to decision-making."
An angry Gavin Cooper, chairman of SAAFF in the Western Cape, charged: "Customs service is going down, down, it's such a poor show."
l For the enlightenment of FTW readers, the three Customs teams at Cape Town International Airport, each comprising 12 members, are: Imports and Exports: (headed by Evelyn Borchards) Anti-Smuggling (Rudi Kitching) Operations Support (Shiraaz Abrahams).