The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A Grand Bahama businessman is voicing frustration that Customs is undermining the ease of doing business by preventing freight forwarders and couriers from bulk clearing shipments.

Darren Cooper, owner of D’s Car rentals, told Tribune Business that business processes were being slowed down because Customs is now requiring these companies to clear items imported on behalf of clients individually.

“In Grand Bahama, freight forwarders and couriers were allowed to bulk clear,” he explained. “Now they have to submit individual entries per customer, and that is slowing the process. We are getting items very slowly and it is costing more. You have to pay for an entry, and you have to pay for processing and excise tax and VAT, so we are paying much more money.

“It is an added cost to the way we do business. Grand Bahama doesn’t need any additional burden. I spoke to the deputy prime minister and he told me not to worry about it, and the enforcement of the [relevant sections in the Customs Management Act] wont happen, but it happened.

“A letter from the freight forwarders and brokers association was also drafted to the customs comptroller, Dr Geanine Moss, for Customs’ reconsideration but they have not responded to the concerns. This system is taking us too long to get our stuff, and the system keeps crashing.”

However, Marlon Johnson, the Ministry of Finance’s acting financial secretary, said himself and Dr Moss, the Customs comptroller, were both unaware of the issues Mr Cooper is complaining about. “I spoke to the comptroller and she is not aware of any problems,” Mr Johnson added. “What we’re doing in Grand Bahama is consistent with what is applied across the board.

“If persons have any specific complaints and issues please send them on to the comptroller so she can an address anything that may be an anomaly. We’re not doing anything different in Grand Bahama from what the standards nationally are. If you are bringing in stuff you have to list the items for valuation because it’s the rules. Otherwise it would be impossible to put any valuation on it.”

However, Mr Cooper added: “This is not even the Click2Clear system, as this is supposed to be leading up to the Click2Clear system. Grand Bahama does not need this. This is frustrating businesses and we are not prepared to deal with this system.”