JIA chaos has not abated - agents

Alan Peat
AIRFREIGHT AGENTS have strongly rejected the assurance from customs project leader, Itchie Shaik, that excessive clearance delays at Johannesburg International Airport (JIA) have been remedied.
Impson Freight's Marven Naidoo - who visited the airport to confirm staff reports of delays - said: "It's chaos in that place."
Naidoo also reported to FTW a number of cases of delay in Impson-handled imports - with one recently having taken five days to clear.
"I can pick up many examples of this," he said.
Ršhlig Grindrod's airfreight import manager, Tommy Reddy - who also paid an inspection visit to JIA - was equally unimpressed.
"It has improved slightly but it's still nothing like acceptable."
He attributes much of this to the new "teaming system" introduced by customs right at the start of the pre-Christmas rush.
This, according to Reddy, has led to a "general delay".
"They are still trying to sort things out but it's still nowhere near right." Naidoo agreed.
Edward Little, executive director of the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF), condemns the set-up at JIA - a combination of a new teaming programme, temporary staff, and the seasonal surge.
It's not designed to give you confidence in the system. "And it's certainly not working as it should," Little said.
Hennie Marais, customs project member from head office, who is seconded to JIA to sort out the whole issue, accepts what is said. But he, in turn, rejects agents' claims that delays are frequent.
"They can only be isolated cases because the cargo is flowing quite nicely although we're not at the turnaround time we'd like of six-to-eight hours."
But Marais agrees there are still problems. "I'm still trying to find out what these are but I don't think they're as bad as people are making out."
Indeed, Marais has put himself on the podium - and is open to all complaints of serious delay.
"I just wish they'd phone me," he said, "because a lot of what is being said I've heard nothing about."
Marais' cell-phone number is: (082) 451-1327.