South Africa risks having its ports blacklisted under the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, unless it addresses the pressing issue of a shortage of immigration officials to service merchant vessels. This has become an increasing problem in the Eastern Cape, with no officials available, especially after hours, to conduct the necessary clearance for vessels and crew arriving to berth or depart from the country. “Shipping is a 24-houra-day, seven-days-a-week, 365-days-a-year business, and officials need to be available all the time,” said an industry stakeholder. Preferring to remain anonymous, he said that on Saturday, a crew member on a vessel berthed in the Port of Port Elizabeth could not leave to fly out of the country after hearing that a close family member had died. “It was absolute chaos because he had not been entered into the country by an immigration official in Port Elizabeth on arrival, and therefore he could not exit the country. He was finally assisted, after several strings were pulled, by being flown to Johannesburg, where he entered and exited the country.” Under the ISPS Code, governments, port authorities and shipping companies are mandated to comply with several security-related requirements and have to designate appropriate security officers and personnel on each ship, port facility and shipping company in order to meet requirements. The code provides a standardised, consistent framework for evaluating and identifying threats that pose security risks, such as piracy, armed robbery, stowaways, illegal migration and drug smuggling. This process includes clearances issued by port health officials, customs and immigration when the vessel berths or departs from a port. Because no immigration officials were available at the port on Saturday, the crew were simply not cleared and, technically, had not entered the country. “The rest of the crew on the vessel who were supposed to effect a crew change had to stay on board. They were left to do the change only when they arrived at another port where immigration officials were available,” said an agent who FTW spoke to. He said that this was not the first incident of its kind and the situation was becoming progressively worse. “Technically, a vessel berthing cannot start to work until it has been cleared by immigration and customs. Also, it cannot leave until it has been cleared. “Customs officials are there on time, every time, but now, more often than not, we are berthing and departing vessels at the Eastern Cape ports without an immigration official ever setting foot on board the vessel. This is a huge risk and a violation of the ISPS Code.” According to another source, an international flight that arrived at the Port Elizabeth airport on Saturday morning faced a similar dilemma, with passengers having to remain on the aircraft for more than two hours while officials scrambled to find immigration agents to enter the visitors into the country. “At present, there are only two immigration officers to manage the Port Elizabeth and Ngqura ports, as well as the airport,” said a source. “One must remember that a vessel standing at anchorage comes with costs of up to $30 000 per day. Timing is critical for vessels coming into port. “In the Eastern Cape, vessels cannot clear and they have to just wait until an official arrives. As a country, we cannot take this risk or operate this way.” He said the inability to deliver an immigration service at these two ports was jeopardising everyone in the country. “As a country, we can be blacklisted for this. It is a major risk.” It is believed that several letters have been sent to the Department of Home Affairs by various industry organisations, while liner companies have also raised concerns. At the time of going to press, attempts by FTW to obtain comment from the Directorate of Port Control had failed.
Home Affairs dereliction threatens South African ports
27 Sep 2019 - by Liesl Venter
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