THE STAR, August 19th, 2002 - THE disparity in port warehouse charges and need for a special Customs examination area to check bonded cargo were among the issues brought up at Port Klang Authority's (PKA) "Meet the Clients Day" held recently.

Federation of Malaysian Freight Fowarders president Pauline Tee said currently, warehouse fees at Northport and Westport were being charged differently depending on the operators.

"We would like to suggest that the fees be standardised and regulated by the authority as the free zone comes under their jurisdiction.

"The operators should not be coming up with different charges as this would also give rise to the opportunity for them to impose hidden or unsubstantiated charges," she said.

Tee said warehouse operators should notify forwarding agents of the arrival of their shipments at the port in advance so that the cargo could be cleared immediately.

"This is because a free storage period for goods at the warehouses is offered for only three days, she said.

"Some unscrupulous warehouse operators inform us only much later after the goods have arrived so that they can start collecting storage fees.

"It is even worse when the consignment arrives on a Friday, as we won't be able to collect them until the following week, thus having to pay the charge," she said, adding that they had to apply for overtime if they wanted the warehouse operators to standby during weekends.

Currently for unstuffing import cargo, consignees are billed RMl.60 per tonne or part thereof on the fourth day, and additionally for subsequent days

On another issue, Tee said that Northport and Westport should allocate a specially designated area for checking bonded cargo or goods meant for export- for which excise duty had not been paid.

She said instead of placing such containers at the export stack yard and removing them for Customs examination later, these boxes should be placed straightaway at the specially designated areas as soon as it entered the terminal gates.

"This is because when it is moved from the yard to the Customs examination area, the container will incur extra movement charges of RM130.

"We are not against the Customs Department checking such shipments but are trying to make it more cost effective for Port Klang users as we believe this is one of the ways to make the port a hub and to compete with other terminals."

Tee said the matter had been raised with PKA assistant general manager Paul Sea who had agreed to look into it.

"Alternatively, Northport and Westport could have a special lane for trucks bringing in those containers so that they would be forced to stop and the checks carried out there and then and documents endorsed before going into the container yard," she said.

Tee said another complaint that she had brought up during the Meet the Clients Day was the delay by the terminals in sending the lifting charges bills to the agents.

She said the forwarding firms only received the bills two months later after the move had been performed.

"This gives us a problem in closing our files and in billing our customers as they need documented proof and since we don't have any to show them, they are unwilling to pay.

"Our customers cannot understand the reason for the delay,"she said

On Meet the Clients Day, to be held every second Saturday of the month, Tee said it was a good avenue for port users to put forward their suggestions and complaints and give feedback to the terminal operators.