Stress is brewing at the Takoradi ports as disappointed Frieghtforwarders are mulling over the failure of the UNIPASS technique to apparent items electronically.
The electronic customs system is at the moment not able to provide on its close to finish package as envisaged, primary to Frieghtforwarders becoming asked to go back to the handbook indicates of clearing products.
Sources between the Frieghtforwarders at the Takoradi port say, compared with the GCNet / WB devices exactly where paperwork are electronically readily available for direct entry in the close to conclude chain, that is not so with the new Integrated Customs Management Systems (ICUMS).
Agents have been requested to print out formerly scanned paperwork from the GCNet / WB method to serve as a guideline for valuation which ICUMS is unable to do and manually attach current files for submission.
The predicament is further compounded by the actuality that UCR and IDF information are captured from GCNet / West Blue method to be employed in the ICUMS.
Compared with in the GCNet / West Blue Units in which there is entry to Container Movement Report (CMR) and Supply Purchase (DO) in electronic structure, the news ICUMS does not reveal these types of performance boosting queries about the preparedness and superiority or robustness of the ICUMS.
This also means that other companies that count on electronic info for reporting uses are deficient, which in flip defeats the strategy of a paperless port.
The progress, which is mainly the very same at the border posts together with Aflao, Elubo and Gonokrom, for occasion, is worrying as users are deprived quick and easy service.
With clearance at the ports back again to guide, freight forwarders are worried there is a substantial risk of undervaluation, document fiddling, theft of goods and prospective income leakages.
