CONTAINER CARGOES

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31339, 8 April 1967, Page 1

CONTAINER CARGOES

Extra Costs Foreseen (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, April 7.

Because of complicated customs clearance procedures shipping agents faced substantial additional expense in handling container cargoes, Mr K. E. Stutter, vice-president of the Auckland Customs Agents’ Society, said today.

He said the difficulties arose in checking against the import licensing schedule the contents of a container carrying a mixed cargo for several consignees.

The container could not be placed in bond in the normal way as the shipping agents did not hold the import licences or the invoices.

He said that to resolve the problem one Auckland agency had recently had to obtain special permission from the Comptroller of Customs to take delivery of three mixed cargo containers.

The agency had had to pay a cash deposit of £5OO to the Customs Department as a guarantee and had been forced tn turn one of its warehouses into a customs examination centre.

Labour costs, and expenses involved in cartage, payment of customs officers’ time in checking the unpacking of the containers, and paper work were expected to cost the agents between 25s and 30s a ton - of cargo.

Not Passed On Mir Stutter said the additional cost could not be fairly passed on to the client since the consignee would not have incurred the cost had he received his goods on a single bill of loading.

“Containerisation is a wonderful thing for shipping companies up to the point of discharge,” he said.

“But from there on further costs will occur and these should be taken into account when assessing the picture.” With the prospect of much more container cargo arriving, clarification of the procedure was an urgent matter, he said. Mr Stutter said the Customs Department might have to

provide examination centres for clearing the containers. A further problem, Mr Stutter said, was the import duty on the containers themselves. In the case mentioned, the agency paid the import duty on the three containers and was told the money would be refunded when the containers left the country. “This is a real headache for us," he said. “There is no guarantee that they will leave from Auckland. Other Ports “There might be a considerable delay and they could leave from other ports in which case we would be hard pressed keeping track of them.” In Australia containers were treated as cargo-hand-ling gear and no duty was payable.