The Philippines’ Manila International Container Port is working towards automating operations and processes to enhance trade facilitation and strengthened border protection. Next month, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) is rolling out the electronic tracking of containerised cargo (E-TRACC) system in several ports nationwide.
While national BOC hopes to fully implement the E-TRACC system across all ports nationwide by August, the capital city port is going to be first in using electronic tracking.
The Bureau of Customs presented the E-TRACC system, which enables the agency to conduct real-time monitoring of inland movements of containerised goods, vietnamplus reports.
To sum it up, Cargo including transit containers bound for economic zones, free zones, customs bonded warehouse as well as containers bound for export and reefer containers bound for second border inspection are covered by the E-TRACC system.
According to the new approach, all container vans would be affixed with an electronic customs seal (ECS) before clearance to depart from the port of discharge to the port of destination is given. The seal is a GPS-enabled sealing device or lock that is capable of physically securing cargo and providing real-time location information.
The E-TRACC system provides track the goods in real-time and alarms in case of unauthorised trips, tampering of the device, deviation of the vehicle from authorized routes, or other events that are deemed unusual based on criteria to be determined by the BOC.
The electronic system set to be rolled out at the Manila International Container Port as well as the ports of Manila and Batangas next month, followed by the ports in Cebu, Davao, Subic and Clark in July.
