Eltvedt & O’Sullivan has provided us with the following information
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In recent days the Dakar Customs Authorities would appear to be applying the existing Customs Code with increased vigour and are strictly imposing the penalties. It is possible that the Customs may have received instructions from higher government authorities to pay closer attention to the details contained in each ship’s declarations of manifests, ship stores and bunkers.
Examples include the imposition of an enormous fine upon a ship for failing to have the bunker declaration form completed by the time the boarding officer arrived in the Master’s cabin. In this case the Chief Engineer completed his soundings / calculations and handed them to the Master as the customs officer arrived, having waited to check the true quantity of bunkers on board when the ship was no longer rolling in the swell outside the port.
The boarding officer accused the Master of ” fraud ” and duly imposed a fine based upon the combined value of the fuel & diesel oils, bonded stores and paint on board x 2 (as allowed under the Customs Code). This sum was an important amount – in excess of Euro 100,000.00
TCI was called in and informed by the Customs that they would be prepared to accept a cash settlement based upon 10% of the claim, itself still a great amount.
After prolonged negotiations with the Customs department, they finally agreed to accept a compromise payment at about 1% of the initial claim. Given that no fraud had been committed or intended this sum was, however, still not a small figure. The Master’s P&I has agreed to cover this sum.
A second example involved a Master having prepared additional pages, not on official forms, which had then been attached to the official forms. Because he had not written a remark upon the official form to the effect ” See pages 1, 2, 3 etc attached to this form ” the extra forms were returned to him and he was accused of committing a fraud against the customs and another outrageous fine was imposed, which TCI had to negotiate, as it was not possible to convince the Customs to cancel it.
As of 22nd November 2006 we understood that there were three other ships under detention / arrest by the Customs in the port of Dakar, involving similar issues and large claims.
We would suggest, therefore, that a Master should:-
i. prepare his Dakar custom’s declarations in good time, having already requested in advance the written confirmation of the latest requirements in this respect from his local agent.
ii. himself receive the Customs officers on board for formalities, in company with the ship’s agent.
iii. ensure that all consumables, including food, paint, stationery, crew personal effects etc. have been accurately declared.
iv. place all the customs papers in a separate file to be checked by the ship’s agent before their presentation to the Customs boarding officer.
If the Master has been unable to fully complete all the declarations in accordance with the latest Customs rulings before the ship is safely alongside, he should delay lowering the gangway until he is fully satisfied that all is finally in order.
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