Scanners speed up customs inspections

Despite being seen by

some as the “big bad

boy” in the logistics

chain, Kudumba

operations director Nigel

Hallowes says he “sleeps well at

night”.

Kudumba has a ten year

contract to provide scanners

to Mozambican customs at all

entry and exit points in the

country.

When the scanners were first

installed FTW was told by a

number of freight forwarders

that they were simply adding to

the costs of doing business in

Mozambique and were slowing

down transit times.

Hallowes responds by saying

that the scanners are necessary

to curb smuggling and to

ensure that the Mozambican

government collects the

revenues due to it.

And, he says, transit times

have dropped from five days

where containers are held by

customs and inspected to “four

minutes”.

Kudumba has invested US$40

million in the infrastructure

required to scan road and rail

trucks, as well as airfreight.

Asked why it was necessary

to scan ore trucks, Hallowes

provides two reasons.

First is that they are used to

smuggle everything from beer

to cigarettes and even people.

Second is that he believes it

is the responsibility of everyone

moving freight in and out of

Mozambique to contribute to

the costs of the scanners.

This enables a f lat US$100

per truck cost to be levied

across the board. The

alternative would be for owners

of more valuable cargo to pay

higher rates.

It costs around US$250 000 a

year to maintain a scanner, and

US$2 million in spares have

to be kept on hand in order to

ensure that Kudumba meets its

service level agreement of 96%

availability.

“We are exceeding that. In

fact, what makes me sleep well

at night is the knowledge that

we have a world class operation

that few other countries in the

world can come near,” he says.

The sophisticated dualview

scanners provide a three

dimensional image of the cargo.

Images are interpreted

by customs officers and not

Kudumba staff, he says.

Ongoing training is provided

by Kudumba to help customs

interpret the images. Organic

and inorganic compounds show

up in different colours, for

example – which helps identify

items such as rhino horn and

elephant tusks.

Hallowes is adamant that

the Mozambican government

was losing millions in revenue

before the installation of the

scanners.

“When we

started it was

found that almost

every container

was mislabelled.

Customs revenue

has increased

almost ten-fold

in the nearly

three years that

the scanners have

been operating.

“The scanner does not

lie,” he says.