ENGLISH: Port of Livorno, speedy customs check with a hightech seal.
“Pre-clearing” has been trialed for the first time in Italy at the Port of Livorno. An exercise that speeds up custom checks by carrying them out whilst the ship is still at sea.
Photo: Pre-clearing exercise at the Ltm terminal on a ro-ro ship: Antonella Querci (Port Authority), Renzo Conti ( Ltm) and Agnese Tonola (Customs)
Port of Livorno, speedy customs check with a hightech seal.
LIVORNO. Speeding up of customs clearance processing on the ferries has been trialed for the first time in Italy at the Port of Livorno. It is the first time “Pre-clearing” has been tested in Italy which involves clearing the goods whilst the ship is still at seal. The testing was carried out on one of the Tunisian company Cotunav’s ro/ro vessel “Salambo”.
The new procedure will speed up the time to verify and approve goods the Port Authority explains, which up until now has only been tested on container ships.
This simplification comes from an alliance formed between the Port Authority Customs and Harbour master to trial the latest RFID technology which can guarantee the integrity of the goods during shipment.
Thanks to this type of electronic seal the goods being carried on trailers loaded on the Salambo can be verified by the Port HQ and monitored for the duration of the crossing from the point of origin in Tunisia to the final destination in Livorno. The high-tech seal is applied on the doors of the trailers and unlike the traditional security seal its able to monitor any type of tampering.
Thanks to the TPCS (Tuscan Port Community system) information on the integrity of the goods is available in real time so the operations team can verify if there have been any tampering or pilfering to the goods whilst at sea.
Antonella Querci, representative of the Port Authority of Livorno is pleased with the outcome “The operators and terminal staff share the strategic aim to invest in innovative services that create a safer and more reliable Port adding It’s a golden opportunity for the Port of Livorno” given that from now on “Livorno is an important port of call for the North African Markets”.
Renzo Conti president of LTM “The tests have provided positive results, it’s the first time that such an operation has been carried out in the Mediterranean and we have worked as a team to make sure the Port is competitive. The time taken to carry out customs clearance has been significantly improved.”
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