One-stop service makes official entry
Leonard Neill
THE SINGLE administrative freight document introduced as part of the Trans-Kalahari Customs Project comes into official force next Friday (August 1). This will ensure a one-stop service for transport operators travelling through South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.
“The final procedures and legal aspects of the document were sorted out at a meeting between the customs authorities of all three countries in Windhoek last Thursday (July 17),” Frank Gschwender, business development executive of Walvis Bay Corridor Group, told FTW.
“We now have a fast lane system in place which will speed up all movement through the borders of all three countries. Happily I can record that the South African Revenue Services, which had initially been the stumbling block when we launched the project two years ago, has now become the driving force behind getting it going so quickly.”
Transport operators can obtain the new document from their respective customs clearing offices, but have been granted a two-week grace period after August 1 for use of the existing documents. These will be treated in the same way as the new format until mid-August, says Gschwender.
The announcement came after a three-day meeting of the three nations’ customs officials.
