The imbalance in cargo volumes on corridors in the region is continuing to put pressure on transport rates.“Copper is still a hot commodity, but there is an imbalance in the volumes on the north-south corridor,” said Gloudie Olivier, manager for corridors and domestic services at Woker Freight Services.
“With an abundant supply of copper, northbound cargo is limited which places extreme pressure on transport rates, resulting in either increased rates, or simply a diversion of cargo to ports such as Dar es Salaam and Durban where northbound cargo is easier to come by,” said Olivier.
“Due to the imbalanced cargo volumes the focus has shifted to the possibility of bulk sulphur handling with a quayside operation to bag sulphur within the port of Walvis Bay. This will require a major investment in equipment with a benefit to the local industry. The ability to also supply sulphur into neighbouring countries is an alternative.”
Olivier said another challenge in Namibia had been the Financial Intelligence Act’s implementation of an amended FIA Schedule in November last year. “The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), along with other law enforcement agencies, has been designated with the responsibility of coordinating Namibia’s national, regional and international efforts to impede and address money laundering, terrorism and proliferation activities. In order to ensure that all required and necessary action is taken to prevent Namibia receiving a negative mutual evaluation assessment, required national preparatory efforts have been undertaken,” said Olivier.
“This now includes any agent operating under the Customs and Excise Act. The main aim has been to prevent and manage import, export or manufacture of certain goods and identify suspicious transactions and activities. Ultimately it is expected of any agent to identify who they are dealing with, in essence to know their customer and understand what their business and activities entail. This process requires the acquisition of specific documentation from a customer, screening them against the FIA’s website to determine when to report any doubtful practice or entity.”
There were, however, several challenges with regard to this. These include where responsibilities start and end for a clearing and forwarding agent, being a reporting and accountable party, foreign data privacy laws and fears of client poaching for example that could obstruct the receipt of required information when protected by international law. It could also sanction screening of every entity involved with the transaction from origin up to final destination. This, said Olivier, was deemed impractical and access to this information would not be easy if one took into account agent and customer confidentiality agreements.
“These are all factors that could hinder full compliance, however efforts will be made from an industry perspective to address these challenges with the FIC. Agents failing to comply might see themselves subject to a penalty not exceeding N$100 million or imprisonment of 30 years.