SACD pilot will speed up turnaround time

The September 17 launch of a new project by SA Revenue Service (Sars), with the pilot scheme based at SA Container Depots (SACD) in Durban, aimed at on-premises container inspections, will definitely improve the turn-around time from inspection to clearing the containers, according to Lee Narsey, IT specialist at SACD. The new procedure will see a number of customs staff, under the customs team leader, moving from their current office in the city centre to the depot – where they will be on duty from 07:30-16:00. “This alone will greatly increase the number of inspections that customs will be able to attend to each day, rather than the couple of hours each morning they used to spend at the depot,” Narsey told FTW. “They will also have direct access to the Sars service manager inspection system through their I-pads when based at SACD. This will enable them to do their inspections and finalise reports quickly, without the need to return to the office for further necessary information, which previously delayed large numbers of the inspections.” When Narsey spoke to FTW last Friday, SACD was busy lining up the first batch of containers for inspection the following Monday. And the procedure had been very quick and smoothly executed, according to Narsey. “With this initiative,” he said, “we submit a list of bookings to customs through the system for them to finalise the next day’s available inspection schedule. They respond by telling us which will be tailgate inspections, and which full unpack-andrepack inspections. This allows us to place the containers in the appropriate parts of the warehouse, and to allocate in advance the necessary work teams.” The customs team leader then sends an EDI message via the Sars system to the clearing agent scheduling the booking time, according to customs. If the clearing agent cannot be present at the allocated time, he can send an email message to a dedicated email address. “This should all combine to vastly improve the speed and efficiency of the inspection routines, and I’m of the opinion that this initiative will save on the costs to industry,” said Narsey. Choosing SACD for the pilot scheme is simple logic, said MD Graham Peinke. “Over 90% of all inspections take place at our premises anyway,” he told FTW. “And, in centralising container inspections, turnaround times will improve from an average of four days to 36 hours, we are told. “It’s quite exciting for us. We see it as a public/private partnership, designed to speed up the whole clearing process – a very desirable situation for the freight industry. CAPTION Graham Peinke ... ‘Turnaround times will improve from an average of four days to 36 hours.'