A recent study established that each day a product is delayed prior to being shipped reduces trade by more than 1%. “In South Africa we’re talking about R670bn in imports and R680bn in exports, which is big money,” Sars Customs Commissioner Oupa Magashula told guests at the launch of its modernisation programme last week. And that’s the motivation behind the programme that goes live in October. “Our focus is to minimise the level of customs intervention on cargo movement and maximise the level of trade facilitation – and that will be accomplished by revolutionising the core customs processing system and enhancing risk management techniques.” The idea is to streamline the supply chain and improve supply chain security for South Africa and its regional partners. “We have already negotiated implementation with Lesotho and Swaziland is very keen,” Magashula said. “They’re just waiting for money from the World Bank.” Electronic buy-in by the industry has already been encouraging. “In terms of electronic declarations, for international imports and exports, EDI submissions have increased from 70% in 08 to 99% in 2010. BLNS imports, meanwhile have grown from 5% in 08 to 28% in 2010 and exports from 10% in 08 to 85% this year.” Border post initiatives have also produced positive results. “We recently introduced an enhanced system of goods clearance at the Lebombo border to significantly reduce the backlog. “This was achieved by moving clearance away from the border post to a new facility 4km inside South Africa and 7km inside Mozambique.” A simple intervention that has produced significant benefits for all involved.
