Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Moving Cargo Industry

CJS; 423

NAME; KELETSO NCUBE

ID: 201302920

TOPIC: POLICING OF THE MOVING CARGO INDUSTRY

INTRODUCTION

Millions of containers circle the earth on special ships, trains and trucks. A typical supply chain involves a network of suppliers, manufacturing centres, warehouses retail outlets and consumers (Willis & Ortiz, 2004). Security of the system has traditionally focused on the loss of cargo shipments through incidents like misrouting. However a heightened awareness of the trafficking and smuggling of illicit merchandise has redefined supply chain security and the purpose of the cargo industry. The moving cargo offers a great opportunity for illicit trade and trafficking of contraband. The events of 9/11 led to the creation of new protocols

In many respects Botswana’s economy in an offshoot of South Africa’s economy rather than an independent entity, heavily reliant on South Africa with 63.3% of imports being from South Africa through the truck moving cargo (Throup, 2011).

Recent Uses of the Moving Cargo to Facilitate Illicit Trade of Contraband

The cargo industry has been used for so long to commit criminal activities such as trafficking of contraband across boarders. One example is the tragic activity that took place in 2000 in the Netherlands where 58 Chinese smuggled immigrants on their way to UK suffocated in refrigerated cargo container (Gottschalk, 2008). Endangered species parts are often stored in legitimate cargo, taking advantage of the growing trade if illicit merchandise. For example ivory has been seized in cargo hidden in plastic waste, dried fish, stone statues and timber from Africa to Asia. In 2009 Kenyan authorities seized 300kg ivory packed in coffins on a flight that originated in Mozambique. Both tusks and black rhino horns were seized and the flight was destined for Thailand (UNODC, Transnational Organized Crime in East Asia and the Pacifi: A Threat Assessment, 2013). This is facilitated by misrepresentation of the cargo, and the complicity of corrupt

Article 5 of the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Annex to the SADC Protocol on Trade states that:

• Member States affirm their existing rights and obligations in respect of technical regulations, standards, and conformity assessment procedures with respect to each other under the WTO TBT (World Trade Organisation Technical Barriers to Trade) Agreement.

• Member States re-affirm their commitment to the WTO TBT Agreement principles of non-discrimination, necessity, and prevention of trade restrictiveness, proportionality, the use of international standards, equivalence, and internationally harmonised measures, transparency and special and differential treatment.

The WCO recommendations on trade facilitation include the cooperation between national customs authorities, the simplification of customs procedures, and the assurance of predictability in customs operations (UNODC,