A picture of border bureaucracy, technical inefficiencies and resulting backlogs of trucks queueing for days to pass through key SADC transit points has once more emerged, with the regular congested crossing of Kasumbalesa yet again at the centre of road haulage holdups. In a message sent to FTW over the weekend, Mike Fitzmaurice of the Federation of East and Southern African Road Transport Associations
(Fesarta), sketched a scene of logistical snags right across the region, stressing that the worst problems were being experienced in Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Referring to the crossing between Zambia and the DRC – which has regularly made headlines for all the wrong reasons – the Fesarta CEO said at Kasumbalesa hundreds of tankers, including acid and fuel, were parked due to the DRC authorities starting to introduce seals – the electronic tracking-and-locking devices attached to trucks and containers once they have been customs cleared. He added though that the more critical reason for the backlog of trucks going north into the DRC was delays in the issuing of the necessary passes, known as Feri Certifiicates, to get into the DRC. “Most trucks have been parked now for more than a week,” he said. But another source, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the certification issue could not be blamed on the DRC as it had been found at a meeting involving transporters and clearers last week that freight forwarders were not submitting the Feri applications on time. “The DRC authorities have been very lenient to the benefit of hauliers and importers to allow for time to get their systems up and running and comply with Feri Certification. “But a while ago the DRC decided that no trucks would be allowed in any more unless they had completed the necessary certificates of destination.” The source said if it weren’t for the lethargic attitude of those applying for certificates, and transporters thinking they could get through without the certificates, “we probably wouldn’t have had this situation”. In apparent confirmation of the source’s views, Stefan Viljoen of Seguro Clearing said they didn’t have issues at the moment because they made sure that all necessary paperwork was in place by the time trucks reached the border. “A lot of the backlog issues are caused by transporters arriving at the border thinking they can sort out their paperwork there. It means that truckers carrying approved papers often have to wait in line as they are held up by others who didn’t get their affairs in order before leaving for the DRC.” Not necessarily, said Fitzmaurice. Responding to accusations that a lot of forwarders are guilty of dereliction in following due process, he said there were serious capacity issues in getting the certificates approved in time. “It takes too long, sometimes up to a week.” The company responsible for issuing the certificates, he said, “simply doesn’t have the capacity to deal with the volume of applications”. Fitzmaurice added that major problems were also experienced in getting through Zimbabwe. He said they simply did not have enough electronic seals for the amount of road freight passing through the country’s borders like Beitbridge, Chirundu further to the north, and Forbes on the way to Mozambique’s Port of Beira. He said around 900 trucks passed through these borders on a daily basis and, apart from the shortage of seals, sometimes their on-board batteries ran out – and with Zimbabwe’s electricity issues at the moment, down to less than eight hours of power on a good day, it can take up to 12 hours to recharge the seals before the necessary cargo clearing can be done. Apparently calls have been made to dispense with seals in Zimbabwe due to the shortage issue but then trucks will have to be escorted, “and that will take even longer”, Fitzmaurice said. He added that a significant part of the problem was the fact that SADC countries used different systems, with the exception of East African countries “being a little more farsighted”.
What we have at the moment is absolute chaos. – Mike Fitzmaurice “
