In the last fortnight, FTW has been inundated with complaints from members of the forwarding industry about the frequency and high cost of container examinations by customs. These are some of the problems that have been told to Alan Peat. AN EXAMPLE of the problems unfolding at customs is of a less-than container load (LCL) cargo for which the customs entry was submitted on May 6. “It was stopped for customs examination on May 8,” said the forwarder. “At first no reason was given for this stop, but a week later we got the detailed stop note stating the wrong tariff code had been used. “We were asked to lodge a provisional penalty of R1 600 - which was done. We reacted quickly and submitted literature about the products, samples were handed to customs but no examination could be done.” The shipment remains under ‘customs stop’ three months later, the forwarder added. “Customs have had samples of the toiletry product,” he said, “which they have since misplaced. A second shipment was done by us on June 4, released by customs on June 6, and the export was despatched as booked.” And the mystery about the whole thing, the forwarder added, was that the same tariff heading was used on both DA 550s. “The bottom line,” said this aggrieved forwarder, “is that the consignee - with two bad experiences - didn’t place any new orders.”
