The new 24-hour regulation for air and sea cargo to SA, soon to be brought in under the Customs Control Act, will have little or no impact on shipping or air lines, according to Dave Watts, maritime director of the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff). “What it means is that sea carriers will have to advise SA customs of all shipments 24 hours before they are loaded on a vessel,” he told FTW. “The timing is different for air (as per the act), but the same logic applies.” It is designed to give customs the chance to prevent the shipment of any goods which may be suspicious. “The details of the shipments will be fed into their risk management system, which will then f lag any shipments which may require further examination,” Watts said. “Customs can then send a ‘no load’ notification to the carrier if there is anything suspicious.” How will it affect the carriers? “It probably won’t cause them any problems,” said Watts. “The shipping lines, for example, have been dealing with this for some time under the US container security initiative (CSI), and similar 24-hour rules in the likes of South Korea, China and Japan. “So they are all perfectly used to the principle.” And for it now to be applied in SA? “I think it’s a good thing,” said Watts, “and can only add to security in the international supply chain.” The new regulation will only be applied when the new act comes into force, Watts added. And that will only be once SA Revenue Service (Sars) customs has completed all its necessary rules to go with the new regulations.
