New company enters computerised customs clearing market

A NEW company offering computerised customs clearing solutions to the freight industry has opened its doors in Gauteng.
Advanced Customs Solutions has developed a
windows-based product which, says managing director CJ Pagel, is user-friendly, flexible and capable of interfacing with third party faxing systems, financial systems and dial-up connections at the click of a mouse.
Using the Harmonised Customs and Excise tariff book as the launch pad, the company has looked for ways to create something different that will benefit the user. "We decided to include features such as the Harmonised explanatory notes, chemical inventory and a powerful word search engine," said Pagel.
The product portfolio includes an export and import programme while the document range covered includes the new Botswana customs document or BW500. "WeÕre the first in the industry to offer this," says Pagel.
The programming team
Ð which includes Vitaly Chyvozertsev and Paul Ramdaloo Ð has several
collective years of experience in the field and believes in staying on top of industry changes. "With this in mind a full logistics
system will be put in place by the end of December this year cross-linking imports, exports, bonded warehousing and warehousing as one standard package," says support manager Ben Lowe.
Pagel believes there is
a market for a service rather than programme-orientated approach. With this in mind all staff are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The company is determined not to enter into a price war to gain market share. Fees will rather be market-related.
A flat fee per month
will be charged based on
the number of operational users and number of sites.
"Our most pressing concern is how we are able
to assist clients in their
day-to-day operations," says Pagel. "Linking global systems, sister companies and electronic framing of entries is where we want
to be of value."
ACS is based in Kempton Park and expects to open
a branch office in Durban possibly by the year end.
A Cape Town branch is
also in the longer-term pipeline.