Customs slows down Malawi traffic

Roadfreight to Malawi enjoys a rare luxury in Africa – transit border posts with no truck queues. But leave it to customs officials to turn a consolidator’s dream situation into a nightmare, all in the name of “modernisation.” “Our trucks currently do not queue at the transit borders, but now they have been stuck at Malawi entry borders for a period of days, for the past two months,” said John Wheadon, MD of Johannesburg-based Falcongate Logistics. Until earlier this year, customs paperwork was handled at each entry border. Now all customs entry forms are done electronically out of the Malawian capital Blantyre. “They call it a modernisation programme, but it is not running very smoothly. The final release certificate for cargo is now processed in Blantyre, and they are trying to send them electronically. It’s not working. We may have 12 different clients’ shipments per truck. The clearances have to be sent electronically to the borders with networks that are constantly down. Customs officers used to clear trucks at the border themselves. Now it is a delay of three or four days,” said Wheadon. Falcongate consolidates all manner of general cargo, including groceries. “We have refrigerated trucks and they are supposed to get priority because of the perishable cargo, but they don’t,” Wheadon told FTW. Undaunted, the firm has not altered its dispatching of trucks northward in the expectation that the bugs will be worked out of Malawi’s Asycuda System. “We still send two loads a week. Business is pretty steady this year, and we are starting to do a little bit of Zimbabwe as well – finished products, consumer goods, everything,” said Wheadon. Caption: John Wheadon … ‘Starting to do a little bit of Zimbabwe as well.’