Customs scanner arrives in July

ALAN PEAT IN JULY the SA Revenue Service (Sars) customs will have its own container-examining X-ray scanner at the Port of Durban. It’s the first mobile, state-of-the-art, large-scale scanner in an intended series of 18 units which will eventually be located at all SA’s major ports and border posts, according to Deon Smith of Sars in Durban. In the case of Durban, this new scanner will replace the current unit – an SA Port Operations (Sapo) owned machine of a technology “which has just run its course”, and is now proving rather too expensive to keep going, Smith added. Hinted at in the budget, he told FTW, legislative amendments to support the effective use of such scanners will be required.