The logistics supply chain in South Africa is in urgent need of attention, with the South African Revenue Service (Sars) being the only government agency capable of fulfilling its mandate.
Trade facilitation is the term most frequently used when discussing the movement of goods into and out of South Africa, but the seamless movement of goods can only be achieved if all the links in the chain operate efficiently and cost-effectively and provide the highest levels of service to traders.
Sars aside, the most vital links in the chain are in disarray, leading to delays in moving goods, additional costs, disruptions to the manufacturing sector and, most importantly, negatively impacting international trade opportunities for South Africa.
Starting with the ports, recent publicity has highlighted the inefficiencies of all our ports, with continuous equipment failures, low productivity, an inefficient truck-booking system, union interference, unacceptable procurement policies, and high port costs – and all of this in addition to adverse weather conditions along our coast.
There has recently been some improvement, with new equipment arriving and changes in policy, but these are not enough to turn the ports around.
There are still far too many long-term plans in place, leaving port users frustrated.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) is another case in point.
In July this year, the Saphra office at OR Tambo was closed due to the Airports Company South Africa not renewing its lease agreement.
Airfreight consignments of medicines and health products were delayed for weeks, with enormous costs. Taken to an extreme, lives were possibly at risk. Currently, there are still delays, with staff shortages and manual releases being the main issues.
The Port Health Office presents a similar scenario. Offices around the country are only open to the public for very limited periods daily, and as was the case with Sahpra, totally reliant on manual releases of import consignments.
Port Health has been identified as being the next agency to be linked to the national single window system, but taking the current circumstances into account, it is highly doubtful that this can be achieved in the very near future.
The National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) continues, as it has always done, to manually detain import containers based on information contained on the bill of lading.
In many instances, goods are incorrectly detained for Letters of Authority (LOAs) which take days, sometimes weeks, to resolve, leaving the importer to absorb the additional costs.
Testing facilities for certain products are limited or non-existent and, besides a limited electronic application process for LOAs, the NRCS does not have any IT capabilities.
Privately owned unpack depots may levy rates for their various services at their own discretion and, in many instances, have agreements with the shipping lines, which leaves traders without freedom of choice.
When dealing with stopped or detained consignments, depot costs are amongst the highest when factoring in additional costs.
The Border Management Authority (BMA) has added yet another complex layer to an already challenging supply chain.
The BMA is continuously consulted when challenges with the various government agencies occur, but little has been achieved in resolving these.
The BMA was established as an umbrella body to oversee all Other Government Agencies (OGAs), but in effect, the BMA is just another agency traders have to deal with. In most cases, the situation, as highlighted above, has become more serious since the BMA was established.
Only a few examples of supply chain failures have been highlighted, but these extend to all OGAs (approximately 15 agencies) and other role-players in the chain.
What needs to be done? The short answer is that the Government of National Unity should provide resources and budgets to all OGAs and, using Sars as an example, embark on its own modernisation programme to prevent the supply chain breaking completely.
