 |
| A customs officer inspects a container using the scanner at Cat Lai Port in HCMC - Photo: Vu Thuoc |
Ton Thanh Phong, deputy head of the Saigon Port Customs Office – Zone 1, the operator of the scanner, said the US$9.6-million equipment just scanned around 40 containers a day as less-than-expected containers were carried to the site where the scanner is located for inspection.
Following some technical glitches, the scanner funded by Japan is now in good condition but there are less-than-required trucks for transporting containers to the scanner. “New Port Co. has six or seven trucks used for this activity, so goods owners have to queue,” said Phong.
He said a number of goods owners had hired trucks or used their own vehicles to quicken the customs clearance process at the port. “The customs office has asked New Port Co. to add more container trucks to speed up the scanning process.”
A high fee is another problem. Phong said the fee for traditional customs inspections which require containers to be unsealed was VND436,000 per container but that for the scanner service is VND350,000 per 20-foot container and VND510,000 per 40-foot container.
The scanner helps shorten the period of customs inspection by four to six times and easily detect smuggled and prohibited goods.
Haiphong Port is expected to receive a similar scanner, also funded by Japan, in the first quarter of next year, according Hoang Viet Cuong, deputy head of the General Department of Customs.
This equipment will be used at other ports in the future, he said but declined to elaborate.
In related customs news, HCMC from early November will expand electronic customs procedures at five more agencies, raising the total number of customs units with e-customs to eight.
The e-customs had already been applied at Cat Lai, Tan Cang ports and Linh Trung Export Processing Zone.
The department will organize four one-day training classes on e-customs declaration skills for enterprises at Him Lam Co. in Binh Thanh District from October 12. Around 1,500 enterprises are expected to join the classes.
