Pandi Liquidadores S.R.L., our correspondents in Argentina, has provided us with the following information.
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In the past, we have issued several circulars relating to customs fines in Argentina advising how difficult some customs jurisdictions are, especially when referring to the declaration of lub oils, bunkers, chemicals, spare parts, grabs and other items in the stores list, especially in ports such as the port of San Nicolas.
The latest practice seems to be that of requiring ships to declare the lub oil in the sump tank of the main engine. We understand worldwide practice is not to declare the oils in the main engine sump tank, which is considered as constant on the vessel, we have recently had a number of ships boarded by the customs search gang stating that the lub oil in the sump tank has not been declared, and then declaring it as a customs infringement.
In those cases Agents have been told by customs that the lub oil in question, has to be discharged from the vessel within 48 hours and placed in storage in a proper depot for the account of the vessel. Of course this is creating major problems, if it is not discharged then the owners have to put a cash guarantee up for twice the market value of the lub oil which customs consider to have a price from usd 7 to 10 per litre when the real price worldwide is about usd 1.5 to 2.
Of course all this is creating major problems and could cause delays to the concerned ship.
In view of the above our suggestion is that your Members must declare the quantity of oil in the ship’s sump tanks especially when calling at the port of San Nicolas. For your guidance, we are also warning the Centro de Navegacion which is the local chamber grouping all local agents stating that agents should warn ships before clearance.
Finally we would like to stress that Masters should be careful when declaring quantities as we have found in various occasions that the quantities for example of lub oils, chemicals are duplicated in the store list but when quantities are checked by the customs search gang there is a discrepancy this then leads to fines for shortages which in reality do not exist but are difficult to prove later on.
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