Lack of consistency among customs officials remains a problem

There’s been significant
improvement in cross-border
relations over the past year, says
Anthony Lee, managing director of
Transport Holdings Limited.
“Working more closely with customs
officials has helped a great deal in
improving the set-up,” he told FTW.
“But we still have some issues to
overcome – for example every time
the staff changes due to their rotational
system, the whole process begins
again. In addition to that new officials
also have their own interpretations of
customs codes.”
Representatives of Imperial Logistics
in Botswana servicing the bulk fuel,
general consolidation and mining
industries in the country, THL frequently
uses the Martins Drift, Gaborone and
Lobatse border posts.
“Punitive penalties, inconsistencies
in tariff code classifications as well as
delays associated with repair and return
items remain our greatest challenges,”
says Lee.
“The elimination of the ‘discretion
of the customs office’ would also
contribute significantly to more efficient
operations. Along with that all DTI/
EDI entries should be paperless and
have no delays,” he says. “A simplified,
streamlined process for handling
repair and returns as well as longer
border hours would be a great feat to
accomplish.”
He says another boon would be if
combined customs and immigration
procedures could be put in place for
both countries as well as standardised
road and vehicle legislation between
SADC countries.
“We have been informed that
paperless border processes are being
implemented in the near future,” says
Lee who believes the implementation
of new fines and procedures for
cross-border operators by the new
Administrative Adjudication of Road
Traffic Offences (Aarto) in South Africa
is set to have major implications for
foreign operators.
“Another aspect we are keeping
a close eye on is the South African
authorities’ intention to limit
axle masses and possibly ban the
transportation of certain commodities from certain roads.”