Last week Ron Jongejan of Jaguacy expressed his displeasure regarding the time taken up by the scans in the port of Rotterdam. "It has to stop. I'm not against scans, but the delay it is causing at the moment, isn't normal and especially in 2016," according to Ron. And he turned out not to be the only one with these problems. In response to the article multiple importers opened up about the results. Customs recognises that since changing the rules there have been more complaints and say they are looking for a solution.
The delay caused by the scans create a considerable expense for the traders. Ron calculated the damage from just last Friday at 50,000 Euro. Johannes Lachi of Exotimex calculated a loss of 500 Euro per container. "They can scan everything, but give time estimates so that you know when your container will be released. Now transport can't be planned and this adds considerable costs," he responds. This lack of clarity concerning the time line of a scan is also seen as a big problem in other responses.
'External route'
Upon the arrival of a container in the port of Rotterdam, containers are selected based on a risk profile to be scanned. All traders see the importance of the scans. It isn't the scans that are being protested. Questions are being asked about the procedure and the speed with which the scans are carried out. According to customs they have been receiving 'similar complaints from the fruit sector' since the abolition of the 'external route' in February 2016. This 'external route' determined that AEO certified companies could take the containers to the scan by road themselves. This regulation was dropped.
"Being able to scan externally still foresees a need to release the load quickly and keep costs for companies as low as possible," responded Gera van Weenum, spokesperson for customs. "We understand that companies are looking to customers to provide a wider solutions than is currently available."
Emergency procedure
She does note that there are risks attached to external scanning. "The safety of this process was insufficiently guaranteed which meant there was the risk that containers may leave the terminal without the necessary checks. External scanning is now only possible if there is an emergency procedure. For companies this means that as a general rule they only have control over their container after the checking process."
This emergency procedure is applied when the scan can't be used for longer than 36 hours or in exceptional cases. Customs determines whether the emergency can be used. This measure isn't always a solution. Last week customs showed that they stick to the 36 hour rule. Starting the emergency procedure before then to get the container scanned on time, isn't possible. Besides this it was busy at the scanner, which means that even when using the emergency procedure the container couldn't be scanned on time.
Releasing more quickly
"In most of the cases the scanning processing is finished within 24 hours," explains Gera. "Due to peak forming, large ships which come in quickly after each other, it happens that this term cannot be realised. In those exceptional cases the company is given the opportunity to organise transport to the scan by road themselves. Before the abolition of external scanning this was different. AEO certified companies could take their goods to be scanned themselves almost upon arrival. Besides this, there were no costs for storage at the weekend and the transport costs to and from the scan. We see no other explanation for these complaints."
Finally, customs indicates they are looking for a solution. "In discussion with Deltalinqs, Fenex, VRC, the terminals concerned and customs we are currently looking for a way to improve this process so that containers can be released more quickly. We are also looking into under which strict condition external scanning can be allowed, which reduces the risk of losing shipments."
