Danville Walker, commissioner of customs. - File

The Kingston waterfront is now doubling as a drop-off point and storage facility for unused containers, left by shipping companies with far less cargo to trans-ship.

But it is also a sympton of a decline in international commerce that, for the treasury, has cut deeply into tax revenue that the administration banks on to help fund its departments and programmes.

A 27 per cent plunge in motor-vehicle imports to February resulted in customs duty on this item going 35 per cent, or $4.5 billion, wide of its previous year 11 months collections, to fuel an $8.5 billion, or near 11 per cent, shortfall in total projected customs revenue for the period.

Customs boss satisfied

But on the upside, customs boss Danville Walker is satisfied that his department shored up government's sagging purse by $71 billion, seven per cent more than the $66.3 billion customs raked in over the same period the previous year.

"To be at 90 per cent of your target, considering that they were set before the global meltdown, I believe we are doing a good job," said Walker.

"We are holding our own with the revenue despite the downturn."

Customs had projected inflows of $79.6 billion for the April 2008 to February 2009 period.

Harsh global economic conditions have resulted in a huge reduction in cargo volumes into the island over the past year.

"As a result, a lot of shipping lines have reduced the amount of vessels going around the world, so there is no need for the containers at this time," said Walker.

"These are empty containers that would normally be traversing the world, but once your supply chain slows down you have to start putting them off, so shipping companies normally pays a fee to trans-shipment ports like Jamaica to store them."

Reflecting the 60 per cent plunge in sale being reported by new- and used-car dealers, 12,186 preowned motor vehicles were brought into the island over the period.

New-car imports were down

There were 5,206, or 30 per cent, fewer vehicles than the 17,392 imported in the first 11 months of the previous year, while new-car imports were down by 27 per cent, or 2,583 below the 9,677 the year before.

The precipitous drop on car imports wiped $4.5 billion from the customs duties from this item alone, netting $8.56 billion, 34.6 per cent less than the $13.09 billion collected for the period April 2007 to February 2008.

The department says it has already eased its collection policy on used cars because of the negative impact of the economic downturn.

When the cars are brought in, an invoice is presented to customs by the importer, but should there be any doubt regarding the veracity of the declared value, a valuation is done by the customs department before the item is cleared.

In order to speed up the process, customs now accepts the declared value, the corresponding duty is paid, the motor vehicle cleared, then if deemed necessary by customs, an audit of the invoice presented is done afterwards.

"It gives customs a collection issue," Walker conceded.

Added the customs head: "If it is discovered that the vehicle was undervalued, we will have to find the resources to collect the outstanding duty ...".

Walker says customs accepts the value of most cargo as presented, but he also said shipments coming out of places like China and Panama automatically will be double-checked.

"We just don't assume they are correct."

For the fiscal year to February, the number of containers landed fell by 10,278, or 11 per cent, down from than the 93,747 that entered Jamaica in the corresponding period one year before.

Warehouses affected by the falling volumes, it is understood, have suggested that the customs department scales back the number of officers assigned to their facilities.

But Walker says this will not be done.

"The amount of cargo they handle has fallen, but customs has an interest to police the cargo so we will not be cutting back," he said.

"However we are looking at the revenue side, because I believe that they deserve some form of mitigation."

Generating a higher level of transparency

Since taking the helm of the customs department nine months ago, the former director of elections has been implementing strategies to generate a higher level of transparency in its operation.

These steps are expected to improve efficiency and eliminate corruption.

The steps have also helped to uncover a large quantity of drugs.

For the period April 2008 to February 2009 the department seized contraband valued at $583.47 million.

This includes more than 200 kilograms (kg) of cocaine, valued at $364.41 million; marijuana weighing 554.284 kg with a street value of $215.83 million; and 4.13 kg of hashish, estimated to be worth $3.23 million.

Twenty-two illegal firearms and 854 rounds of ammunition were also discovered.

mark.titus@gleanerjm.com