Wanted: Gauteng shippers to join pilot system on Walvis corridor

AN APPEAL has gone out to Gauteng freight forwarders to join a pilot scheme which will test the use of a single customs document to cover consignments from Gauteng to Walvis Bay, due to start on April 1. "We have had a strong response from Namibian operators, sending containers and other goods from Walvis Bay to Gauteng, but to date we've had only one Gauteng forwarder who has displayed interest in the project," says Theo Lyimo, the South African representative of the US-based Rapid system, which is funding the plan. "It's a very simple system in which the consignment is sealed at the point of loading and travels through all the border posts on the same document without hindrance. The seals must be intact at the point of off-loading and everything is in place." The system has taken some time to move forward because it needs to be legalised by each country involved, while carriers and forwarders have to be licensed and containers registered. But those procedures are simple enough, he says, with the transporting vehicle needing to display a sign up front which states ÔSADC transit'. "Forwarders who want to be involved in the pilot scheme must simply notify their home association which will provide them with the necessary information."