Director General of Customs, Noureddine Khaldi, called on Saturday from Oran, the country’s port enterprises to create areas or spaces for the storing of goods (containers) outside the ports to avoid their accumulation and to reduce pressure on the ports.
In a statement to the press, on the sidelines of the first day of a two-day working visit that led him to Oran, Mr. Khaldi urged the port enterprises throughout the national territory to “create areas or spaces for the storing of goods (containers) outside the ports to avoid their accumulation and to reduce pressure on these enterprises. These areas will be under customs control and managed by the port enterprises.
He stated that his services “are working hard with various partners to reduce the deadlines for clearing goods (containers) and taking them from Algerian ports, these periods have decreased from an average of 5 to 3 days,” noting that “the customs services are mobilized to make Algerian ports transit areas for goods and not spaces for their storage and accumulation.”
The Director General of Customs underlined that “the presence of goods (containers) for long periods results in costly fees for the state, similar to the docking fees of ships and the stay of goods for a certain period on the docks of ports.”
In this regard, the number of containers that were downloaded at the port of Oran during the first quarter of this year has reached 17,681 units, and so far 15,270 containers have been cleared and 823 others transferred to public warehouses, while 1,588 containers are still piled up at the port, under customs control, awaiting customs authorizations.
Mr. Khaldi stated, in this respect, that all of these measures fall within the framework of implementing the President’s decisions aimed at reaching $ 5 billion in exports outside of hydrocarbon, especially through the implementation of various measures that ensure facilitating commercial movement through ports such as export activities.
Regarding the new information system for the customs sector, which is currently underway, the first official of this regulatory body confirmed that it “will play a major role in developing the process of clearing goods through ports,” highlighting that “in the next few days, a delegation of the Korean partner will arrive to push forward the realization of this project.”
Meanwhile, the Director General of Customs stressed the importance of avoiding storing dangerous materials in seaports and ensuring the establishment of risk management mechanisms and ensuring greater effectiveness in handling the flow of goods.
Mr. Khaldi followed a presentation at the port of Oran about the proceeds of the customs activity in this port facility and visited the headquarters of the customs trade division and the Scanner team for containers in the port of Oran and the inspectorate of customs departments, before having, at the Higher School of Customs in Oran, a meeting with the executives of the Regional Directorate of Customs.
On Monday, the Director General of Customs will visit Oran International Airport, Ahmed Ben Bella, and will hold a meeting with economic operators in the western part of the country.
