A small electronic seal is causing major headaches for transporters and forwarders in Mozambique.Coming in at a cost of $57 per seal, it is not a cheap headache. Freight News spoke to several transporters in Mozambique and found that the challenge was not only the cost, but also the availability and the delays this caused.The e-seal, as it is referred to, is government’s way of safeguarding cargo. “The problem is that while this is a great idea for high-risk cargo such as electronic equipment and mobile phones, which people may very well try to import without paying duties, the same cannot be said for other commodities like copper cathodes or any bulk loose product,” a transporter told Freight News.“If you get into the container and steal a couple of handfuls of copper, what are you going to do with it? You can’t sell it to anyone locally.”The e-seal, if cut or tampered with, immediately sends off an alarm, raising awareness of the intrusion. “The e-seal has to be cut at every border post for cargo clearing and then the container has to be resealed. It takes anything from 45 minutes to an hour to reseal a truck,” said another transporter.“The e-seal is also allocated to your documents. It is not an easy or a quick process as it is very specific and it happens in every country between here and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
