Global Gateway: AIMO highlights critical aspects of the industrialisation pattern in Mozambique
The Times MW / Malawi’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Joseph Mwanamvekha at the centre
During the bilateral trade talks Malawi held with Mozambique in Tete, Mozambique on Friday (March 4 2016), Malawi outlined various impediments its transporters and traders were facing in Mozambique.
Interestingly, there were no complaints Mozambique brought on the table.
One of the concerns raised by Malawi was on a transit code Mozambique demands for Malawian transporters passing through the country known as the contra marca.
It is a code that is issued to a clearing agent automatically once the agent submits information into Mozambique’s trade system.
The Malawi delegation reported that Malawi Revenue Authority receives data collected through the contra marca very late – usually once a month when goods have already been delivered.
Malawi also asked whether the Contra Marca was necessary, describing it as as added cost to doing business for Malawian transporters.
Malawi also indicated that it does not charge any fee similar to the contra marca fee to Mozambican transporters.
The Malawi delegation also complained that it sometimes takes up to eight days for Malawian trucks to load and offload cargo and that Malawian transporters are disadvantaged on allocation and loading of cargo at the Beira Port. The other problem was the unreceipted charges paid at the port. This, they said, eats into the transporter’s profit margin.
Malawi also informed Mozambique that through breaking of seals on trucks in transit is an accepted practice internationally, the problem in Mozambique was that the seals are sometimes broken by other authorities other than Customs officials.
Malawi also suggested that the two customs authorities should agree on what constitutes sensitive and suspicious cargo to avoid situations where consignees are refusing to accept their cargo because they suspect that their cargo has been tampered with, especially where the cargo is food related.
Malawi also wanted Mozambique’s assistance on security of trucks passing through Mozambique as its transporters have faced banditry attacks at places such as Capirizange and Luenha River areas which have steep slopes and trucks move slowly.
It was observed that even after reporting the incidents, the affected transporters were not assisted by the Mozambican authorities.
Another issue was on the Mozambican regulation which requires drivers to carry original vehicle registration certificates. Malawi explained that when a vehicle is purchased with a loan, banks normally retain the vehicle registration certificate to protect against reselling of the vehicle.
Malawi also explained that moving with the vehicle registration certificate posed a high risk of loss of the certificate and requested for waiving of the requirement to enable truckers carry a certified copy of the vehicle registration certificate.
Malawi also reported that there were other charges related to parking of vehicles that are levied illegally mostly in cases of breakdown of trucks and requested Mozambique to issue advance notices on any new fees so that it is not a surprise to transporters.
In addition, Malawi also indicated that Malawi vehicles bearing red numbers (small rent-a-car vehicles) were being asked for permits without which they pay US$50. On the other hand, Malawi does not charge for that.
Mozambique has since undertaken to review and address the issues raised by Malawi.
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