‘NOT OUR FAULT’

BROKERS SAY THEY’RE NOT TO BLAME FOR DELAYS

CLEARING CARGO AT BRIDGETOWN PORT

President of the Barbados Customs Brokers and Clerks Association (BCBCA) Louis Forde has defended brokers against a claim by a Government Minister that they were responsible for much of the delay in clearing cargo at the Bridgetown Port. Denying the allegation that was made by Minister of Energy and Business Senator Lisa Cummins earlier this week, Forde said it was the wait for information from importers that was holding up the process.

“Whilst the broker inputs the information, their clients – the importers – have to provide relevant and proper documentation and in a timely manner to avoid delays,” he said in a statement.

Speaking in the Upper House on Wednesday, Minister Cummins said hold-ups were largely due to brokers putting inaccurate data into the integrated customs management system, ASYCUDA World.

“Oftentimes, 80 per cent of the issues with a container not being released relate to the non-input of data from a broker. Oftentimes, you have information that is inaccurately entered into the system….Oftentimes, depending on what the declaration has been on that item, it is incorrectly declared and it has been sent back for review,” she said.

However, seeking to set the record straight, Forde said brokers should not be blamed since they had to get the required information from importers.

“Having not attended the last four meetings of the Sub-committee of the Social Partnership on port performance and efficiency, and with good reasonable excuse, Senator Cummins would not have heard the statistics presented by the BCBCA which showed that 90 per cent of the containers in the Port which were not entered, or to use her term, ‘non-input’ were awaiting documentation from the importers, or were awaiting permits or certificates because the documentation was late from the importers,” he said.

Minister Cummins had also said that delays were compounded when documentation from other ministries or departments was required to clear the cargo.

“Depending on what is in that container, there may be a need for clearance by agriculture, there may be a clearance by health, there may be a clearance by veterinary health… ,” she said.

Using dog food importation as an example, Forde agreed that delays could be related to the process of obtaining a permit from the Veterinary Services section of the Ministry of Agriculture.

“If a broker gets documents just as or after cargo arrives, then to discover there is dog food in the consignment, the broker now has to start the permit process through the Veterinary Services section of the Ministry of Agriculture. This then results in delays in-putting and clearing,” he explained.

Forde said the BCBCA would continue to support all efforts to make the ports and customs clearance processes more efficient.

“We eagerly await the re-energising of the Barbados Trade and Business Facilitation Committee which has not been meeting to fulfil its mandate of overseeing the implementation of the World Trade Organisation’s Trade Facilitation Agreement which has projects designed to assist in improving clearance at all ports of entry,” he added.

The BCBCA president stressed that the organisation previously worked with Senator Cummins and participated “robustly in all committees and arrangements put in place to decrease the dwell time of cargo at the Port, and for efficient document processing through the Customs and Excise Department”.

“We have trained scores of brokers and clerks in the proper use of ASYCUDA World, before, during and after its implementation and will restart similar training in 2023 at the request of the Customs and Excise Department,” Forde said. (MM)