Customs affair
Customs further tests shorter time for cargo check in fight against outliers at port of Rotterdam
from 72 to 24 hours
Still 'this year', Customs wants to run a second pilot in the port of Rotterdam with a shorter notice period. During the test period, companies will be told 24 hours in advance whether a container will be inspected instead of 72 hours. The adjustment is intended to keep out outliers.
Regional director Peter van Buijtenen tells a Customs blog discussing the results of a previous trial that in future the service will become "stricter" on matching estimated arrival time and the actual arrival of a container at the terminal.
The first pilot with the 24-hour notice period ran from 22 April to 17 May this year. It showed that the estimated time of arrival of a container (the ETA) and actual arrival (the ATA) are still far apart. This is something Customs wants to monitor 'more strictly' in the future, says the regional director. 'In practice, the ATA is often much later than the ETA because ships are delayed. Sometimes even up to several days. So there is still a lot of time between the notice of inspection and the inspection itself.'
Less predictability
Customs always wants containers checked before criminals or outliers can get to them, the government agency said. The current standard of 72 hours is good facilitation for companies, but, according to the regional director, it also creates predictability in the logistics chain, among other things, which in turn would give criminals time for haul-outs. The pilot should show how feasible it is for companies in the port to work with a shorter 24-hour deadline.
According to Customs, the main purpose of the pilot was "to learn from it", in particular the impact of the shortened notice period on logistics processes at the port.
Van Buijtenen said that in the blog prior to the pilot period in April and May, he had received signals about "concerns about the expected impact", especially from parties responsible for transport from the port. During the pilot, however, no complaints were reportedly received from these companies.
Hotel containers
Although the focus was on the logistics processes, Customs also saw that criminals were 'anticipating the pilot'. 'By positioning outliers already before high-risk ships arrive at the port terminals in so-called hotel containers. These are empty containers into which outliers are locked to enter the port area unseen.'
A second pilot will start even this year, the regional director said. He stressed that this one again is mainly intended to examine the impact of the shortened notice period on logistics processes at the port. How long the pilot will last and when it will start is not yet known. 'We are consulting with companies on the length of the new pilot, among other things.'
Source: NT
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