The Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority is to release goods congesting dry ports around the country to importers who provide payment guarantee from their banks to help alleviate congestion.

The Ethiopian Shipping and Logistic Service Enterprise will provisionally cover the demurrage and storage cost estimated at about 400 million birr according to sources.

The authority currently has more than 2 billion birr that it expects to earn from customs tied up in imports stockpiled at the dry ports. The congesting has also been helped by the ELSE’s limited capacity to process the goods and because importers have been unable to meet the financial demands said the sources. The customs authority expects importers who take charge of their shipment according to the new procedure to clear their customs duty within six months said Melaku Fenta, Director General of the ERCA speaking to representatives of the business community at a discussion panel.

The ports have been unable to take new shipments because of the congestion they are encountering which is why the tax authority has decided to help relieve the problem according to Melaku.

It is to be remembered that the ELSE had published a list of 355 companies who had containers at Modjo dry port back in November as part of efforts to alleviate the congestion and collect the revenue owed to the tax authority. The port however remained congested in spite of the warning of penalties attached to the notice.

Source: Capital