THE SA customs authorities at Beit Bridge are causing excessive delays at the border post through their autocratic attitude, according to road transporters who are plying the SA-Zimbabwe route.
This has led to appeals being made by road hauliers to the customs head office in Pretoria for a less stringent application of all the rules in the book.
We get pre-clearances in Johannesburg, said Russell Aikman, operations director of Truck Africa, with trucks loaded and sealed under the eyes of customs officials.
But they still get stopped and examined.
We are told that these are part of the random checking process, and that they are going to carry them out, no matter how much trouble we have gone to beforehand to avoid the need for an examination. While this strict adherence to what's in the book is applied in fits and starts according to Aikman, it has led to hauliers allowing for four days plus on the run between Johannesburg and Harare. This when Jo'burg to Cape Town - the same distance - takes two days at most.
Generally speaking, all this leads to continuing delays at the border post, said Herman Lemmer, deputy-chief executive of the Road Freight Association (RFA). You should just talk to the hauliers about what it means for them. One of the things it means, according to Aikman, is the physical examinations being strictly imposed, and trucks just queueing-up back down the road.
What does this mean for the shippers? The rates just have to go up, said Aikman, because all of us have to take the delays at Beit Bridge into account when doing our sums.
