The regular downtime of the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) system run by the South Africa Revenue Service (Sars) for cargo clearing has forced the tax authority to fly in an IT expert from the UK.
That’s according to a trusted source from the logistics community, speaking to Freight News on condition of anonymity.
The EDI system, which some say is more off than on, has caused massive delays at export exits of all freight modalities, causing some cross-border transporters to localise their fleet use because of over-long dwell time at land borders like Lebombo.
Yesterday Mike Barlow, branch manager for Newton clearing in Komatipoort, said a road freight client shipping ore from Steelpoort in Limpopo to the Port of Maputo, has decided to pull 286 tippers off the N4 into Mozambique because of hold-ups at the border.
Although backlogging from the EDI system crashing has been particularly felt at the Maputo Corridor crossing near Komatipoort, the source who responded to yesterday’s report said the Sars issue had affected customs and cargo clearing across the entire spectrum.
“To illustrate the severity of the problem I believe an expert from IBM was flown in from the UK to help,” he said.
“The EDI system has been taking immense strain since about Thursday (22 June), and the effects are being felt countrywide for air, sea and road cargo.
“There have been some improvements after a few all-nighters by Sars and some of the service providers, but it doesn’t seem to have stabilised yet.”
Confidential information shared about behind-the-scenes intervention by Sars, has been sent to the relevant media liaison officers for comment.
It includes the updating of information on the EDI Bulletin Board, especially pertaining to LRN (local reference number) recipients that have not received an EDI Customs Status Response message in the last 24 hours.
