Tag / China

by Mike Poverello

China Shanghai Pudong Airport log jammed – Medical Supplies for export

Freight gridlock at Shanghai Pudong International Airport is so bad that some cargo planes are being forced to leave nearly empty and logistics companies are recommending ocean transportation as a faster option. 

Airfreight professionals describe an operational meltdown, with trucks stuck in queues for two to three days to drop off shipments and boxes piling up in warehouses unable to get put on aircraft because Chinese customs officials and ground handlers are overwhelmed by the surge in export demand for face masks and other medical supplies.

The volume of hospital gear, resumption of e-commerce and other trade following China’s coronavirus quarantine and new export restrictions are blamed for the massive backlog, which was compounded by factories rushing out extra shipments before closing for the May Day holiday.

“In my 20 years, I have never experienced this level of congestion at any airport. And there are no signs of this alleviating in the next week to 10 days,” especially with factories reopening again, Neel Jones Shah, the global head of airfreight at San Francisco-based Flexport, said in an interview.

An avalanche of personal protective equipment, test kits and disinfectant is descending on Chinese airports because the rest of the world desperately needs it to minimize exposure to the COVID-19 virus and air is the fastest delivery method. China is the world’s largest source for respirator masks, surgical masks, medical goggles and protective garments, accounting for 50% of global exports in 2018, according to Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

But the onslaught of goods is running into a bureaucratic wall and piling up. Last month, Chinese authorities placed export controls on 11 types of medical supplies, including infrared thermometers, after complaints in Europe and the U.S. about low-quality purchases. Chinese-made N95 respirators failed in several tests to meet filtering standards for small particles, while non-medical masks are also being sold as medical-grade ones. In addition to special certification, all the shipments must be individually inspected and verified by customs authorities to make sure they are not defective or fraudulent.

The risk-control office that certifies the medical equipment was closed for Chinese Labor Day and customs worked reduced hours during the holiday, adding to the bottleneck.

The process of opening boxes and going through the contents with a fine-tooth comb is very manual and adds at least three days to transit times, said Brian Bourke, chief growth officer at Chicago-based SEKO Logistics.

China’s new policy has forced freight forwarders to cancel many bookings because export shipments are regularly failing customs inspections. Most of them are demanding customers have cargo ready at least four days before a flight. It now takes five to six days for shipments to get from the manufacturer’s dock onto a plane, according to logistics companies in the area. 

Meanwhile, forwarders and consolidators are requiring all freight charges for protective garments be paid up front, 72 hours before departure, because the cost of chartering a dedicated plane at the eye-popping one-way rate of $1.5 million or more, is prohibitively expensive. Pre-payment is also desired because shipments may miss the flight’s cutoff time and result in the forwarder otherwise having to eat the loss.    

Delayed or rejected loads have a knock-on effect, too, because they need to be rebooked on later flights.

The most-affected transfer station is PACTL, a joint venture between Shanghai Airport Group and Lufthansa Cargo that controls three of the seven cargo terminals at Pudong Airport, according to a SEKO client advisory. Since May 3, Eastern Air Logistics’ western cargo terminal is temporarily not accepting any new charter flights in an attempt to clear the backlog.

Chinese social media sites show massive traffic jams of trucks, with no space to unload, on the entrance road to Pudong Airport. The wait is so long, Bourke said, that trucking companies have to rotate fatigued drivers via motorcycle.

Even after shipments are cleared, they can sit in a warehouse because ground handling companies often don’t have enough labor to consolidate shipments for aircraft loading, he added.

Light loading

Jones Shah, a former head of cargo at Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE: DAL), and others who do business at Pudong airport say the increased tender times have forced multiple carriers on several occasions to depart only 10% or 20% loaded because of schedule commitments, or fears that pilots will violate duty-hour limits by waiting.

Under normal circumstances, cargo airlines typically change crews in China. Instead, flights are originating in Tokyo or Seoul. Upon arrival, crews stay on the planes to avoid being tested or quarantined by Chinese authorities keen on preventing outsiders from reinfecting the local population. If freighters stay too long in Shanghai, crews will time out their duty clock and violate anti-fatigue rules before reaching a refueling stop in Anchorage, Alaska, or U.S. destinations.  

“It’s a disaster right now.  . . . There is personal protective equipment that could have been coming to the U.S. just wasn’t able to because of this backlog,” Bourke said.

Contacted by FreightWaves, North American passenger airlines that now operate so-called “ghost” charters — planes without passengers flying dedicated cargo routes — downplayed the congestion’s impact on load factors.

“PVG [airport code for Shanghai] has some challenges as a result of a huge increase in volume and flights, but American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) has been able to fill nearly all flights to-date. Demand remains very strong and our handling partners have been able to process freight in time to meet our outbound flights,” Sandy Scott, managing director of cargo operations – Europe & Asia Pacific, said in a statement. “Limiting export deliveries to 48 hours prior to flight departure helps with smoothing the flows through the cargo terminal. American is in constant contact with all global account customers, local customers, and handling partners to ensure flights leave on time and with full loads.”

A Delta spokesperson said, “Delta Cargo is working with our ground handlers and contracted warehouse providers in Shanghai to improve the situation in light of congestion affecting all airlines. Delta is committed to continuing our cargo-only flights between Shanghai and the U.S.”

Air Canada has not had aircraft leave empty because of good planning that enables it to swap out shipments that are not ready for ones that are, said Tim Wong, director of cargo sales and services for Asia-Pacific.

Airfreight workarounds

Freight forwarders are employing a number of tactics to bypass the bottlenecks and say customers need to be open to quick course corrections.

Flexport works with airline partners to delay flights upline, “before they leave for Shanghai because then the crews can continue to rest and not start their duty day. And that gives us a little more time to have freight tendered and built,” Jones Shah said. “But it can get tricky. Flights have to get to their destination because they have another flight after that. So, you’re operating within the confines of a very intricate schedule. This is a 24/7 job right now managing the complexity.”

Other Chinese airports face similar problems, to a lesser degree. SEKO is trying to avoid Shanghai at all costs for now, instead sending most airfreight to Zhengzhou airport, a 10-hour drive west of Shanghai. Time:matters, the logistics arm of Lufthansa Cargo, and its Chinese agent, Shanghai International Freight Forwarding, are also arranging cargo-only passenger charters from airports in Xiamen, Malaysia, and Nanjing, China, spokeswoman Katja Sondey said.

Making matters worse is that Chinese regulations don’t allow personal protective equipment to be exported or transshipped through Hong Kong.

“That has created lots of backlogs and capacity issues in Guangzhou and Shenzhen as many airlines do not have landing rights in mainland China and is one of the reasons why rates are sky high,” said Christos Spyrou, the CEO and founder of logistics cooperative Neutral Air Partner, via email from Hong Kong.

Fast-boat services, like those offered by Matson, Inc. (NYSE: MATX) and APL, offer another relief valve for shippers. Matson, for example, sails direct from Shanghai to Long Beach, California, in 10 days.

“We’re telling people that sometimes it’s more of a sure thing to move via expedited ocean services. And that’s an education,” Bourke said. “When your airfreight guys are selling ocean, that’s when you know that the market is working in a crazy way.”

Jones Shah said shippers — especially those who are moving a lot of volume — need a diversified strategy when it comes to moving medical supplies.

“If you’re just moving one shipment of 500,000 masks, airfreight is the way to go. If you’re moving multiple shipments of 40 million to 50 million masks over the duration of a project, there is absolutely a hybrid, modal strategy that is going to get you there.

“It’s not just air or ocean that’s going to let you be successful. You need a combination of the two,” he said.

Europe doesn’t have an express-ocean option, so some logistics companies are increasing use of transcontinental rail from China to move urgently needed protective suits and related supplies. Imperial Logistics International said it took 20 days for the first batch of 45 containers with medical gear for health care workers to arrive in Germany by train.

Source: Benzinga, featured on Yahoo.com, 8 May 2020

Advertisement
by Mike Poverello

Illicit Cigarettes – Hong Kong customs intercepts four shipping containers

Photo: Winson Wong

Hong Kong customs has uncovered HK$85 million worth of smuggled cigarettes in the largest seizure of its kind in two decades, after authorities acted on intelligence indicating a syndicate was shipping the haul into the city in four containers.

Some 31 million cigarettes were stashed in the containers from Yokohama in Japan. They were then shipped through different ports in South Korea, Vietnam and mainland China, according to Lee Hoi-man, deputy head of the Revenue and General Investigation Bureau under customs.

He said the circuitous route was used by smugglers to avoid detection.

“The containers were shipped into three to four different ports before they came to Hong Kong,” Lee said adding that the contents listed on import documents were changed to throw off law enforcement in various jurisdictions.

Four men – one mainlander and three Hongkongers – aged between 24 and 41 were arrested in the operation on Monday. They were still being held for questioning on Tuesday evening.

Information on the containers was shared to a global database operated jointly by customs from different countries, under an anti-smuggling campaign code-named “Project Crocodile”.

A law enforcement source said the containers were left idle at another port since December, but were then suddenly moved across different countries before arriving in Hong Kong, one at a time since last Friday.

Lee said: “It is possible smugglers believed our frontline officers were tied up in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.” He added that some of the contraband items were believed to be destined for countries in eastern Europe as some cigarette brands seized in the operation were popular there.

Hong Kong customs began investigating the syndicate in mid-December before identifying the four containers.

On Monday afternoon, officers from the Revenue and General Investigation Bureau swooped into action and seized 22 million sticks of cigarettes stashed in three containers at yards in Yuen Long, Sheung Shui and Man Kam To, arresting the four men.

At the Sheung Shui site, officers also seized 3,500 bottles of duty-not-paid liquor worth HK$2.5 million.

On Tuesday, the fourth container which had arrived from Shenzhen a day before was selected for inspection. Nine million cigarettes were found in it.

Lee said the combined haul had an estimated street value of HK$85 million, and was the biggest seizure of its kind in two decades in a single operation.

He said his team was working with overseas counterparts to determine the exact origin of the shipment and track down the ring leader and core syndicate members.

In Hong Kong, importing or exporting unmanifested cargo carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail and a HK$2 million fine.

Source: Article by Clifford Lo, South Morning Post, 18 February 2020

by Mike Poverello

‘Flying out of Africa’, an essay on China -Africa relations

cina-africa-focac

The following article featured in BusinessLive (eEdition) on 25 July 2019. It is authored by John Grobler. The article was compiled with the financial support of Journalismfund.eu’s Money Trail grant programme. 

Chinese ‘lying money’, or fei qian, is an ancient form of value exchange. But its modern incarnation is blamed for stripping Africa of its resources.

The secret of Chinese commercial success in Africa, as suggested by an 18-month investigation into the drugs-for-abalone and rosewood trade and a major Namibian tax fraud case, is an ancient system that not only allows African countries to be robbed of taxes, but also plays a part in financing the global $270bn-a-year wildlife contraband trade.

Fei qian, or “flying money”, dates back about 1,200 years, to the Tang Dynasty in China. In its simplest modern incarnation, it is a low-cost and trusted method of remitting money, much like the Islamic hawala system. For example, a person who wants to send funds to a recipient in Africa will pay a fei qian broker in China. For a commission, the broker will arrange that a counterpart in Africa pays the recipient, again for a commission. The two fei qian brokers later settle their account through, for example, the transfer of commodities of equivalent value — but also sometimes through less salubrious methods such as transfer mispricing or invoice manipulation.

In practice, the system relies on the systematic underinvoicing of Chinese imports into Africa and a seamless chain of payments system in which accounts are settled through the transfer of high-end — and often illicit — goods such as abalone, rosewood, rhino horn and ivory. In brief: goods are undervalued on their import documentation; they are then sold for cash; and that undeclared cash is subsequently channelled into high-end commodities that are remitted to China to balance the fei qian books.

“The trick behind fei qian is that the money never actually leaves China,” says a former Singaporean finance expert, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It’s just the commodities that get moved around” as part of a longer payment chain among the Chinese diaspora.

Unlike barter trade, fei qian is not a straight swap; it is an exchange in stored value that leaves no paper trail, except in the books of the fei qian operators themselves. What makes the system even more impenetrable, the investigation has found, is that these operators mostly seem to be older, well-established women working in a closed network of mutually trusted contacts.

This nexus, and lack of paper trail, means fei qian is largely invisible. But it occasionally appears as a gaping hole in a country’s balance of payments account with China – as Namibia has discovered in an ongoing import-tax fraud investigation.

Jack Huang, a business associate of President Hage Geingob, and Laurentius Julius, a former Walvis Bay customs official and now a customs clearing agent, are among eight suspects facing 3,215 charges of fraud and money laundering in the Windhoek high court. Continue reading →

by Mike Poverello

Grasping the size of Container Traffic

The following infographic is shared courtesy of Visual Capitalist

Size-of-Shipping

by Mike Poverello

E-commerce in China extends Belt and Road Initiative

Cross-border e-commerce freight train [Xinhua]

From ancient trade to modern tech

Two millennia ago, camel caravans trekked across an inland route centered around Chang’an – today’s Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi province – serving to connect China to western-lying regions of the world through trade and exchange.

Today, under the guidelines of the Belt and Road Initiative, cross-border and transcontinental transactions are booming online as well, with a key difference: unlike the ancient model, the online businesses of today’s digital era are more efficient, more diverse and far more extensive.

Smart technologies and modern logistics have enabled people to pick and choose products from overseas – from Argentina’s red prawns, Mexico’s avocados and Chile’s cherries to the Czech’s crystals, Myanmar’s emeralds and Bulgaria’s rose oil – and receive them within hours or days after a simple click.

The Belt and Road online

Countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative have launched businesses on China’s online shopping platforms, among which the e-commerce giant JD.com alone has attracted more than 50 overseas e-stores.

At the same time, these e-platforms facilitate the export of Chinese products to 54 countries, among them Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Thailand, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

China’s e-commerce sector, projected to reach 2 billion consumers globally by 2020, has become a pillar industry supporting worldwide trade, said Xing Yue, vice president of Alibaba.com, one of China’s leading e-commerce conglomerates headquartered in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province.

“With circumstances highlighting digital dividends, cross-border e-businesses do not only focus on selling products, but also on creating service-centered trade, a signal epitomizing digital commerce,” added Xing at the second Cross-Border E-Commerce Summit held in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province, in May this year.

According to Alibaba.com, the company’s annual online shopping spree hosted last November 11 – a day evolved from China’s Singles’ Day into an annual online shopping frenzy – attracted buyers from 225 countries and regions, generating a revenue of 168.2 billion yuan (US$26.25 billion) and producing 812 million orders.

AliExpress, a global business division of Alibaba.com established eight years ago, reached 100 million overseas customers as of April 2017. “We may be underestimating the actual size as people under the same roof may use the same account,” said Shen Difan, the general manager of AliExpress.

“Products made in China are nothing inferior to the rest of the world. However, the problem is that the small-and-medium-sized enterprises in China were unable to reach overseas customers,” Shen said, adding that e-commerce has allowed these businesses to tap into other markets, extending connections between the two sides.

E-commerce and drones reshaping trade

The change in delivery speeds in Russia exemplifies the convenience of online business. Before e-commerce took off there, overseas packages often took as long as 60 days to arrive to Russian households, after being sent to Moscow for a security check.

Now, however, with the adoption of big data, Russian customs is no longer required to send deliveries to Moscow for unpacking and examination. Instead, detailed information about each package, including dates, types and values of commodities, is made available online, enabling direct delivery to customers.

E-commerce – arising as one of China’s four major modern inventions, along with high-speed railway, Alipay and bicycle sharing platforms – has overhauled traditional industrial chains and reshaped the trade system across the world, the People’s Daily reported.

“I have been greatly interested in the rural logistics run by JD.com,” Wu Min, the editor in chief of the Italian weekly newspaper Il Tempo Europa Cina, said while paying a visit to JD.com’s Beijing headquarters on June 1 of this year.

“In the past few years, it cost us heavily to send newspapers to the countryside, where difficult geographic conditions blocked entrance. Today, with the use of drones, we are able to surmount the last-mile challenge and send our newspapers to rural readers at much lower costs,” Wu explained.

JD.com has also developed drones, weighing 13 kilograms each, to manage deliveries to outlying areas. Additionally, smart technologies including robotic couriers and unmanned inventory have enabled the companies’ shipments to cover 99 percent of the population nationwide, saving 70 percent of total logistical costs, the People’s Daily reported.

Source: China.org.cn, article by Wu Jin, 14 June 2018

by Mike Poverello

Port of Shanghai Port Sets New World Record

Port of Shanghai

The port of Shanghai has set a new world record by handling over 40 million TEUs.

On December 10, 2017, Shanghai Yangshan Deep Water Port, the world’s biggest automated container terminal, started trial operations.

Shanghai Port started container handling in 1978 with a capacity of 7,951 TEUs. In 2010, the port overtook the Port of Singapore to become the world’s busiest container port, and in 2011 throughput exceeded 30 million TEUs. In 2016, Shanghai set a record by handling over 37 million TEUs.

Shanghai aims to become China’s leading international shipping, aviation and railway hub by 2040. The city has also set a goal of handling 45 million TEUs in Shanghai ports by 2040. Shanghai Yangshan deep water port and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Port will be central to achieving the target, along with other ports including Hangzhou Bay and Chongming Island. Source: Maritime Executive, 1 January 2018

by Mike Poverello

Shanghai – World’s Largest Automated Terminal Begins Trials

Shanghai Yangshan Deep-Water Port’s Phase IV container terminal started its trial operations last Sunday. The 550-acre, $1.8 billion facility is the latest expansion of the Port of Shanghai’s complex on Yangshan Island, which has deeper water than the port operator’s mainland terminals.

The Port of Shanghai is already the busiest for container traffic in the world, handling a record 37 million TEU in 2016, and the new automated Phase IV terminal will cement its leading position with an additional seven berths and 4-6 million TEU of capacity. Phase III began operations in 2008, but the global financial crisis delayed construction of the long-planned Phase IV until 2014.

According to Chinese state media, Phase IV is the world’s largest automated container terminal, with computer-controlled bridge cranes, AGVs and rail-mounted gantry cranes. All of the equipment is Chinese-made, and the facility also uses a Chinese-designed automated terminal management system. About 100 out of a total of 280 pieces of the automated equipment have already been delivered and are in testing.

“The automated terminal not only increases the port’s handling efficiency, but also reduces carbon emissions by up to 10 percent,” said Chen Wuyuan, president of Shanghai International Port Group, speaking to Xinhua.

Yangshan is the biggest deepwater port in the world. Phase I was finished in 2004, and the following year construction wrapped up on a 20-mile, six-lane bridge to connect the facility to the mainland. Extensive land reclamation allowed for the construction of Phases I through III on new ground adjacent to the islands of Greater and Lesser Yangshan, which were previously home to small fishing communities.

The port handles about 40 percent of Shanghai’s exports, and its operators hope to see it grow as a transshipment hub as well. As of 2016, it operates under a free trade zone status, which speeds up customs procedures and facilitates transferring or storing foreign-origin cargoes. Source: Maritime Executive, 11 December, 2017. Pictures: China State Media

by Mike Poverello

How SA’s abalone ends up on China’s plates

Abalone Shells

Oxpeckers’ environmental investigative journalist, Crystal Chow,  digs up the dirt on the illicit abalone trade.

Abalone tops the list of the most exquisite seafood in Chinese cuisine, and fresh South African abalone are always the first choice for feasts in Cantonese restaurants, where one fresh abalone alone can cost up to HK$2,000 (about R3,000). In recent years, the overfishing and smuggling of wild abalone has pushed this endemic species of the South African coast towards extinction.

“The South African wild abalone are heavier, and they are better than the farmed Japanese and Australian ones in terms of fresh flavour and texture,” said Chit-yu Lau, general manager of Ah Yat Abalones restaurant in Hong Kong. “Our fresh South African abalone are all imported through legitimate channels. The smuggled ones are usually dried, and are rare in Hong Kong.”

Nonetheless, the illicit abalone trade has been gathering significant attention from conservationists combating wildlife trafficking, who believe the profitable contraband market of abalone is linked to the black market of ivory and rhino horns – both of which are driven by high demand from the Chinese market. To read the full story Click here!

Source: oxpeckers.org, author – Chow. C, June 9, 2017.

by Mike Poverello

7,500km Marathon Journey for Chinese Silk Road train

The UK’s Daily Mail  reports the arrival of a freight train in east London has marked a new era for the 2,000-year-old trading route. It is the first freight train service from China to the UK. The route known as the ‘Silk Road’ once helped bring a wealth of goods from China to Europe.

The train pulled in to Barking after an 18-day journey from Yiwu, a wholesale market town in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. It had passed through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France, finally crossing under the English Channel into Britain.

Laden with 68 twenty-foot equivalent containers, the train brought in a cargo of small commodities including household items, clothes, fabrics, bags, and suitcases.

The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road, also known as The Belt and Road (abbreviated B&R), One Belt, One Road (abbreviated OBOR) or the Belt and Road Initiative is a development strategy and framework, proposed by Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping that focuses on connectivity and cooperation among countries primarily between the People’s Republic of China and the rest of Eurasia, which consists of two main components, the land-based “Silk Road Economic Belt” (SREB) and oceangoing “Maritime Silk Road” (MSR). The strategy underlines China’s push to take a bigger role in global affairs, and its need for priority capacity cooperation in areas such as steel manufacturing. Wikipedia.

Ten containers were taken off at the German hub of Duisburg. The remainder arrived in London at Barking’s Eurohub freight terminal. The service is faster than sending goods by sea. Weekly trains will initially be run to assess demand.

A number of different locomotives and wagons were used as the former Soviet Union states have a larger rail gauge than the other countries involved. China Railway already has freight services to a number of European destinations, including Hamburg and Madrid.

They are part of China’s One Belt, One Road programme of reviving the ancient Silk Road trading routes to the West, initially created more than 2,000 years ago.

Run by Yiwu Timex Industrial Investment, the Yiwu-London freight service makes London the 15th European city to have a direct rail link with China after the 2013 unveiling of the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative by Chinese premier Xi Jinping.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May  said the relationship with China remains ‘golden’ as she seeks to bring in billions of dollars in Chinese investment as Britain prepares to leave the European Union. Read the full original Daily Mail article here!

by Mike Poverello

China Customs – pilots Independent Customs Declaration and Tax Payment for Imported Goods

China Customs EmblemAudit firm KPMG reports that the General Administration of Customs (GAC) will reform the existing customs clearance procedure for imported goods, according to a GAC Circular on Carrying out Pilot Reform of Tax Collection and Administration Procedure issued on 29 October 2016. Under the current procedure, review of the customs declaration is required before goods are released. This reform is designed to further guide import and export enterprises to be self-disciplined and law-abiding, with the principle stated as “honesty and observance of the law brings convenience; dishonesty and irregularity leads to punishment” to improve customs clearance efficiency.

Content of pilot reform  includes the following elements:

Independent customs declaration and tax payment – when importing goods, enterprises should submit customs declarations truthfully and accurately in advance, calculate tax payable and surcharges and handle payment-related procedures on their own.

Review of elements relating to tax calculation after release of goods  – generally, goods will be released after enterprises complete the customs declarations and tax payment procedures on their own. Afterwards, the customs authority will spot-check and review the valuation, classification and origin of the imported goods of the enterprises. In special cases, the authority will inspect the customs declaration in advance.

Proactive disclosure scheme After release of goods – enterprises are encouraged to report to the authorities in writing if they are aware of any of their own violations against customs regulations. Enterprises which the customs authority believes to be voluntary disclosers of their own irregularities will be less punished or free from punishment. For enterprises which have disclosed their irregularities and paid back taxes proactively, late fees can be reduced or eliminated.

For more details access the KPMG report here! Source: KPMG

by Mike Poverello

WCO facilitates Data Model training for SARS

WCO Data Model Workshop, Pretoria, South Africa, Dec. 2015

SARS’ EDI and Customs Business Systems representatives with WCO Data Model facilitators Mr. Giandeo Mungroo (2nd from the left) and Ms. Sue Probert (2nd from the right) [Photo – SARS]

Officials of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) last week attended a WCO workshop on the Data Model facilitated by Ms. Sue Probert and Mr. Giandeo Mungroo. The event, held in Pretoria, South Africa was sponsored by the CCF of China as part of the WCO’s Capacity Building endeavours to promote the adoption and use of customs standards and best practice amongst it’s  member states.

The workshop was requested by SARS ahead of new technical and systems developments and requirements informed by SARS’ new Customs Control and Duty Acts. Moreover, there are also political ambition to institute a Border Management Agency for the Republic of South Africa. All of this requires that SARS Customs has a robust electronic tool to assist the organisation in mapping national data requirements according to specific needs.

Besides the use of a value added Data Model tool – GEFEG, it is imperative for the organisation to develop capacity in the knowledge and understanding of the WCO Data Model. SARS has successfully EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) for the last 15 years with various local supply chain trading partners and government agencies. Over the last few years SARS has been actively pursuing and promoting IT connectivity with regional trading partners with the express purpose to extend the benefits of eCommerce across borders.

GEFEG.FX software is used to model data formats and develop implementation guidelines for data interchange standards such as UN/EDIFACT. It is a software tool that brings together modelling, XML schema development, and editing of classic EDI standards under a unified user interface, and supports the development of multilingual implementation guidelines.

Version 3 of the WCO Data Model brought about a distinct shift towards an ‘all-of-government’ approach at international borders with the introduction of the GOVCBR (Government Cross Border Regulatory) message. The message and underlying data requirements facilitate the exchange of customs and other government regulatory information to support a Single Window environment.

WCO Data Model not only includes data sets for different customs procedures but also information needed by other Cross-border Regulatory Agencies for the cross-border release and clearance at the border. The WCO Data Model supports the implementation of a Single Window as it allows the reporting of information to all government agency through the unique way it organizes regulatory information. This instrument is already 10 years old and is seeing increased use by WCO members.

Amongst the benefits derived from the workshop, SARS staff acquired the following competencies that will not only aid their work but business user support as well –

  • Competence in operating the tool to build a source control collaborative environment to support national and regional harmonization;
  • Competence to build a base to conduct national/ regional data harmonization based on the WCO Data Model to support national Single Window implementation as well as Regional Integration;
  • Competence to build systems/ electronic interfaces between Customs and its partner government agencies including a Border Management Agency; and
  • Provide needed competence to develop, maintain and publish national and regional information packages based on the WCO Data Model.
by Mike Poverello

German Customs dispute disrupts plywood imports from China

Laminated woodThe importance of tariff classification and its impact on statistical and economic data – German imports of hardwood plywood from China continue to be affected by a dispute between the German trade and customs officials. In the last three years, customs officials, particularly at the port of Bremerhaven, have been checking Chinese plywood to ensure that boards are cross-laminated rather than laid parallel to each other.

According to German customs, boards should be reclassified as Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) if not fully cross-laminated. This is frequently the case with lower-quality Chinese plywood manufactured using small veneer pieces for the cores. LVL incurs a higher rate of duty of 10% compared to 7% for plywood. Roughly 40% of Chinese hardwood plywood deliveries into Germany were reclassified in this way in 2012.

German import merchants and the timber trade federation GD Holz have held talks with German customs to try to more clearly define which products should be considered plywood and which LVL. According to GD Holz, these talks have been unproductive so far and customs continue to reclassify Chinese plywood. Several German importers have now filed lawsuits and results are still pending. At the same time, GD Holz report that since 2014, several importers have been reimbursed for some instances of excessive duty paid. However, customs has not revealed why reimbursements were offered in some cases but not in others.

The uncertainty created by the dispute in Germany may partly explain the recent rise in imports of Chinese hardwood plywood into ports in Belgium and Netherlands. German buyers may be avoiding excess duty by buying from stocks landed in these neighbouring European countries.

The reclassification process has led to inconsistencies in the statistical data on German hardwood plywood imports. Data derived from Eurostat indicates that German imports fell by 18.3% to 34,700 cu.m in the first five months of 2015. This followed a decline of 5.5% to 103,000 cu.m for the whole year 2014.

However, the Eurostat data deviates from figures published by the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) which indicate a 62% increase in German hardwood plywood imports from China in the first quarter of 2015. On enquiry, Destatis note that they have adjusted their data downwards for 2014 to take account of plywood reclassified as LVL.

However Destatis have not yet made the same adjustment to the 2015 data. As a result, Destatis data on deliveries to Germany appear to surge this year. Overall, once all adjustments are made, Destatis reckon German imports of Chinese hardwood plywood in the first five months of 2015 were probably around the same as last year.

by Mike Poverello

Pakistan and China Customs to accelerate establishment EDI

Sost_Pakistan_Customs_and_Chinese_TrucksPakistan Customs’ experts are in China to make further progress on the establishment of direct Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) with the trusted and neighbouring country to reduce the incidences of revenue losses.

The sources told Customs Today that Chief Customs Automation Abdul Qadir, Director Majid Yousfani, Riaz Chaudhary and Azeem from PRAL flew to China on August 9 to hold series of meetings with the Chinese counterparts to make further progress on the EDI.

The sources said, that the EDI will help access trade documents on real time basis from computers of cross-border customs stations. The directorate had exchanged the technical documents with China for EDI, the sources said, adding that the Chinese Customs had given feedback and counter proposal on the technical documents.

In order to expedite finalisation of the EDI arrangement, earlier a meeting with the Chinese Customs for exchange of data relating to the certificate of origin between the two countries was held on February 2 to 4, 2015 in Beijing. And, this is the second meeting of Pakistan Customs officers with the Chinese Customs, sources added.

It is recalled here, that Federal Board of Revenue had issued an alert regarding mis-declaration in imports from China under 50 HS Codes. The Board also showed concerns on the un-warranted concessions granted under various SROs covering preferential or free trade agreements.

The Board had advised verification of suspected Certificates of Origin directly through the commercial missions of Pakistan abroad, discouraging mis-classification of goods to obtain concessions and extending benefits only to goods which strictly matched the description provided in respective SROs.

It may be mentioned, that the export data of China customs for CY 2013 was cross matched with the import data of Pakistan Customs for same period and it transpired that in respect of 376 tariff lines the import value declared before Pakistan Customs was short by $2.437 billion recorded by China Customs as export value to Pakistan.

Moreover, in respect of 13 tariff lines the import value declared before Pakistan Customs was in excess of $829 million that that recorded by China Customs as export value to Pakistan. This is indicative of possible mis-classification of those goods which attract higher rates of duty but are cleared as goods attracting lower rates. Source: CustomsToday

by Mike Poverello

Devastation at Port of Tianjin

by Mike Poverello

Shanghai’s FTZ plans to improve customs service

A man, right, speaks to a motorbike taxi driver in front of the gate to China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone's Pudong free trade zone in Shanghai, China, on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013. The area is a testing ground for free-market policies that Premier Li Keqiang has signaled he may later implement more broadly in the world's second-largest economy. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Pilot Free Trade Zone’s Pudong free trade zone in Shanghai, China. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Shanghai’s pilot free trade zone unveiled several measures aimed at improving customs services for high-technology companies in the zone.

An air cargo service center will be set up in Zhangjiang High-Tech Park to provide one-stop customs services including delivery of import manifest, customs declaration and customs inspection, Shanghai Customs said yesterday.

The center will cut customs clearance time to six to eight hours from at least two working days previously.

Customs formalities for imports of reagents, samples and equipment by high-tech companies, bio-pharmaceutical firms and microelectronics manufacturers will be streamlined, benefiting about 900 companies in Zhangjiang and neighboring areas, it said. Customs has also pledged to cut the threshold for small and medium-sized firms to offer offshore outsourcing services and encourage clusters of advanced manufacturing such as aircraft and new-energy vehicles in the FTZ.

Other measures include introducing customized customs services for high-tech companies, setting up bonded warehouses for small businesses and strengthening intellectual property protection.

“These new measures are market-oriented and based on enterprises’ need, and aim to tackle actual problems and boost trade facilitation,” said Zheng Jugang, vice director of Shanghai Customs.

Also yesterday, customs unveiled another eight measures to simplify customs clearance process and boost trade facilitation for all FTZ-based enterprises. They include trading of bonded commodities in the zone and simpler customs procedures for imports of art supplies.

In the first five months of this year, trade in the FTZ totaled 287.1 billion yuan (US$46.3 billion), accounting for 26 percent of the city’s total.