Mozambique: Electronic sealing and tracking system detects 25 violation attempts

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Mozambique: Electronic sealing and tracking system detects 25 violation attempts

7:53 CAT | 02 Jun 2021

Photo: O País

At least 25 violations of transit procedures have been recorded between January and May, since the installation of an electronic sealing and tracking system for goods in transit along the Beira Corridor in the central Mozambican provinces of Sofala and Manica, according to a report in Tuesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.

At a joint press conference on Monday in Beira, held by the Mozambican Tax Authority (AT) and the Mozambique Electronic Cargo Tracking Services (MECTS), the company in charge of the system, as part of the transit procedure violations, 25 of the MECTS seals were destroyed, which caused major financial loss to the company.

MECTS operations manager, Micaele Chissico, said that the 25 detected violations were among 649 cases which caused interventions by the Rapid Response Teams (ERR). In all, there were 6,209 warnings about attempts to violate the seals, through cutting the cables and route deviation.

Chissico declared that legal procedures taken after the illicit attempts are under way and the transit cargo has been recovered. The sealing system has been set up at the general cargo, fuel and container terminals in Beira Port.

“At the beginning, we faced some constraints as happens with any other process, but we are successfully overcoming them on the ground. We are increasing sealing stocks,” Chissico said, adding that conditions have been created and the seals are safe and inviolable.

Assessing the preliminary balance, the two sides praised positively the implementation of the initiative, as it enabled full control, in record time, of the movement of road traffic through the GPS/GPRS system and a prompt intervention by the authorities in case there is any attempt to circumvent the sealing system or smuggle cargo.

AT central region director, Amido Abdala, said that the tracking and monitoring are carried out in record time from the centralised operation centre, which works 24 hours a day. He said the system enables the sealing of containerised cargoes, and also the wagons and tanks containing bulk cargoes and fuel, transported either by rail or by road.

The process, he added, is intended to end the smuggling and theft of commodities in transit and he pointed out the tragedy in Capirizange administrative post, in the central province of Tete, where in 2016, dozens of people were burnt to death while looting fuel from a tanker. In theory, with the new tracking system, nothing of the sort could happen again.

“Before the installation of the process, we had several records of cargo theft transiting from Beira Port to the countries of the hinterland, but now we are very happy with the work, which warns us when any of the vehicles stop, and when any attempts are made to break the seals, thus eliminating thefts,” Abdula explained.

He added that the system is also capable of knowing whether any particular vehicle is following the route previously declared.

Source: AIM