Hundreds of scrap containers at HCM City port

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Electronic scrap was seized at Phuoc Long – Thu Duc port on 3rd January 2017. Photo: Thu Hoa.

Electronic scrap

From 21^st December 2016 to 3^rd January 2017, at Phuoc Long Port - Thu Duc, the Customs Control Team under the HCM City Customs Department actively collaborated with the Customs Branch of Sai Gon port, Region 4 and the HCM City Police PC46 to carry out physical inspections of 15 scrap containers imported from Hong Kong and the US. The functional forces discovered electronic scrap in these containers on the list of prohibited imports. In which, there were 3 containers full of electronic circuit boards and the other containers with used televisions.

The shipment documents showed scrap of CEM Joint Stock Company (Binh Phuoc). In the 15 containers, there were 6 containers conducting Customs declarations at the Binh Phuoc Customs Department. On Customs declarations, enterprises declared imported goods as bronze scrap. Through collection of information and inspection, the Customs Control Team discovered that imported consignments had suspicious signs, so they closely monitored. However, after opening Customs declarations, enterprises did not carry out Customs procedures to receive goods. Thus, the Customs Control Team issued Decision to implement physical inspections of the entire shipment as prescribed by the Law, and discovered electronic scrap inside containers.

After the first 6 scrap containers were seized and conducted physical inspections by Customs authorities. This enterprise refused to receive the remaining 9 containers although on the B/L, it showed that the importer was CEM Joint Stock Company. Reportedly, CEM Joint Stock Company was located in Bac Dong Phu Industrial Park, specializing in processing and manufacturing plastic items. This enterprise used burned materials including electronic circuit boards for mold production.

Speaking to a reporter of the Customs Newspaper, a Customs officer of the Customs Control Team said all electronic waste originated from the US. There was likely that the amount of scrap was disposed to transport to Vietnam for consumption.

Hundreds of scrap containers at ports

According to the investigation of the Customs reporter of the Customs Newspaper, apart from the amount of scrap above, at Cat Lai port, there have been hundreds of imported scrap containers for a long time without owners. In which, there were many parts of used automotive tires and plastic scrap.

According to the HCM City Customs Department, there has been a backlog of 481 containers with used automotive tires imported at Cat Lai port and past due by 90 days. Of which, there are 281 containers (6,744 tons) statistically for disposal in 2016 and 200 containers waiting for disposal. With a large number of automotive tires, if Customs officers have not resolved quickly, it will cause congestion at Cat Lai port. According to the HCM City Customs Department, if functional forces carry out destruction of goods mentioned above, the cost will be very high, impacting on the State budget. In addition, the amount of automotive tires have been stored for a long time, causing congestion at port as well as overload conditions.

In addition to the used automotive tires mentioned above, at HCM City ports, there have been dozens of plastic scrap containers. These containers were left by many other enterprises.

According to the analysis of the Customs Branch of Sai Gon Port, Region 1, the minor cause of the backlog of imported goods including old automotive tires at Cat Lai comes from the congestion of the ports and the main cause is that many companies do business inefficiently with losses and tax debts, leading to a series of scrap containers left at the ports. Besides, some individuals and organizations which have been ineligible to import goods into Vietnam have refused to conduct procedures to import goods; and many overseas sent inappropriate goods to Vietnam but they refused to re-export these goods.

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In order to avoid congestion at the ports, causing environmental pollution, the HCM City Customs Department is working with business units to tackle these above problems.