LABUAN (July 21): The e-ATTENDANCE digital system, developed by the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (Customs) in Labuan has benefitted the freight forwarding and shipping agents on the duty-free island since its trial-run on April 1.
The system, which is used for the submission of loading and unloading activities at the 10 private jetties located along Jalan Patau-Patau, was first developed in February, Labuan Customs director Aspalila Ag Tuah told Bernama yesterday.
“All applications (for loading and unloading), document inspection, approval and monitoring of goods at the private jetties can be carried out in a more orderly, neat and planned manner with this system and it also keeps records of applications and approvals, making it easy to control and monitor the previous applications,” she said, adding that it would generate revenue for the department through improved non-tax revenue collection and reduce leakages through monitoring.
She had earlier received a certificate of appreciation on behalf of Labuan Customs from Labuan Freight Forwarders Association chairman Prunella Phoong at Wisma Kastam here, in recognition of the implementation of e-ATTENDANCE.
“The e-ATTENDANCE will certainly benefit the logistics and shipping industry, operators of ports and private jetties, as they are allowed to send documents through digital mode in line with the government’s initiative towards digitisation,” Prunella said.
Prior to the implementation of e-ATTENDANCE, submissions for private jetties had to be submitted manually to the Labuan customs office during office hours.
“If there was a requirement to change the date and time of the arrival of vessel, tug or barge alongside when ‘Attendance’ is planned for the weekend, changes cannot be done until the next working day,” Prunella said.
With e-ATTENDANCE, the Customs officer would be present at the appointed date and time to monitor the movement at the private jetties.
“Once an application is submitted, notification is also escalated to the enforcement team of marine police and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA)…thus there is check and balance between private jetty operators, Customs and other enforcement agencies ensuring that smuggling via private jetties can be avoided,” she shared.
Labuan currently has 42 registered customs brokers agents for freight forwarding, 53 registered custom shipping agents for vessel clearance, eight registered customs direct importers/exporters and 12 private jetty operators. – Bernama
Reference: https://www.theborneopost.com/2023/07/21/customs-e-attendance-system-to-benefit-labuans-freight-forwarding-shipping-agents/