Facing the backlog of goods at seaports, HCM City Customs Department has provided urgent solutions to maintain smooth production and prevent supply chain disruption.

HCM City’s Customs officers process for import and export goods. Photo: Ngoc Linh

HCM City Customs Department establish a support team

To facilitate port operators and prevent the disruption of import and export activities, Director of HCM City Customs Department Dinh Ngoc Thang signed a decision to establish a support team to prevent congestion at the border gate.

The members of the team include a leader of the department and heads of seaport customs branches that have huge volumes of import and export goods. The team is in charge of working with subordinate units to implement programmes and solutions to maintain customs control and clearance at seaports and areas managed by HCM City Customs Department amid the pandemic.

In addition, gathering difficulties and problems to report and propose to the leader’s department urgent solutions to solve procedures for firms affected by the Covid-19 pandemic; asking the General Department of Vietnam Customs and the local government for handling problems beyond its competence.

In addition, members of the working group will develop plans and offer solutions to solve the backlogs and arising problems, minimising the congestion of goods at the border gate, especially during social distancing in HCM City.

1St Zone Sai Gon Seaport Customs Branch has worked with Saigon Newport Corporation to make statistics and transport more than 3,500 goods containers congested for more than 90 days at Cat Lai port to store at Hiep Phuoc Port.

At the same time, speeding up liquidation and handling and re-export for shipments not eligible for import out of Vietnam's territory.

The branch has applied information technology and performed online operation, as well as encouraged officers to overcome difficulties and work overtime to ensure customs clearance in the fastest manner.

Customs branches have worked with seaport operators to quickly handle procedures for payment and goods receipt.

Speed up customs release for imported goods

One of the best solutions to reduce the backlog at Cat Lai port is to expedite the release for containers of import goods. Saigon Newport Corporation will hold an online Customer Dialogue on a large sale to discuss specifically, and work with each customer to offer appropriate polices to release these containers from the port, the Saigon Newport Corporation’s leader said.

The corporation plans to transport imported goods that are backlogged for more than 15 days at Cat Lai Port to other ports and ICD such as ICD Tan Cang - Long Binh, ICD Tan Cang - Nhon Trach, ICD Tan Cang - Song Than, Tan Cang Hiep Phuoc port under instructions in Official Dispatch 3847 of the General Department of Customs. For effective implementation, it unifies the process with Customs, customers and shipping lines before the transportation. All transportation costs and lifting costs at both destination and departure are paid by the corporation.

Customs facilitates the circulation of personnel in the production line, delivery and customs clearance of goods at ports, even after 18 hours to promptly carry out procedures for import and export, cargo delivery and receipt and to ensure uninterrupted operation at the port.

To reduce inventory at the yard, the corporation will optimise the efficiency of port operation; find more container yards outside the port. At the same time, adjust the container loading between import and export container yards and empty containers in the port to increase the receiving capacity for imported containers; maximise the container loading capacity on the yard. Move empty containers out of the port to have space to store imported containers. It will pay all shipping costs.

To support importers in receiving imported goods at Hiep Phuoc Port, the cooperation will deliver the full container free to importers; make free with yard storage, implement 24 hour- free operation for refrigerated containers; assist in carrying out additional procedures to change the destination port declared in the manifest/bill of lading after importers have fully completed the paper procedures and online procedures on the National Single Window portal.

According to HCM City Department of Transport, 16,976 vehicles enter and exit on average per day. The department issued QR codes for 15,814 vehicles carrying import and export goods in and out the port. It also facilitated the movement of these vehicles.