Deadline looms for switch to new permits at ORT

JOY ORLEK BY THE end of this month (January), the new drawing/access permits developed through the Airline Cargo Operators' Committee and the SA Association of Freight Forwarders will be the preferred system for drawing cargo from the foreign cargo warehouses at OR Tambo International Airport. That’s the deadline for the final phasing out of all Airports Company SA permits used for drawing cargo and their replacement by the new system which has been up and running for some time with positive results, says Richard Mallabone, Saaff director aviation and security. Not only does the new system bring significant security benefits, it also provides a database of highly beneficial information for the SA Police Service and Customs (Sars). For the freight forwarders, access to employee data provided by the permits will provide valuable feedback on productivity, says Mallabone. “Once the terminals are up and running and cards are scanned on entry, the employee’s every move can be logged – his/her entry at the gate, arrival at the airline, time of drawing the cargo and time of vehicle departure. “The main benefit is that it’s identifying an individual with a piece of freight thereby cutting out fraud. In the future the goal is to go paperless with Sars so we can do away with the document release and the risk associated with paper. “More importantly you can deactivate the card immediately if a staff member goes on vacation – if someone tries to scan and draw on his card he will be prohibited.” Once tried and tested the vision is to see the system rolled out nationally to other airports and ultimately to the ports as well in the near future, said Mallabone.