The Bureau of Customs Port of Cagayan de Oro (BOC-CDO) is set to allow trusted traders to clear their non-containerized shipments from customs custody and deliver them to their premises—all within half an hour.
The project aims to facilitate the lodgement of goods declaration for non-containerized cargoes and have the goods delivered to the importer’s premises within 30 minutes, the agency said in a statement.
An experimental trial of the project will start in November 2020.
BOC-CDO district collector John Simon, in a phone interview with PortCalls, said this project can be done because the participating companies already have their facilities “along the shoreline,” where the vessels carrying the participants’ bulk and breakbulk shipments can dock.
The participants have been pre-selected and are classified as most trusted traders in the movement of bulk and breakbulk cargoes in Northern Mindanao. Some of them are also part of BOC’s Super Green Lane (SGL) facility, the system that allows advance processing and clearance of shipments.
Asked what the current processing time is for regular companies, Simon said it usually takes one to two days to clear their shipments.
The participating companies include Petron Corp.; Jetti Philippines, Inc.; SL Harbor Bulk Terminal; FDC Misamis Power Corp.; Steag State Power, Inc.; Philippine Sinter Corp., Phoenix Petroleum Corp.; Minergy Power Corp.; Pryce Gases Inc.; and Pilipinas Kao Inc.
Simon said the project is a first in the country and complies with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Customs Cooperation Framework and the 10-Point Priority Program of BOC.
On whether the project will be extended to other companies, Simon said those firms will first have to comply with the criteria set by BOC-CDO.
The project will be executed by BOC-CDO’s Office of the Strategy Management, headed by Atty. Roswald Pague.
“This is in pursuit of our mandate to elevate customs processes and procedures in conformity with international standards and adoption of best practices in cargo releasing,” Pague said.
