The South African Authorities have just issued the communiqué  to all shipping agents,  regarding the 21 day vetting process for the transit of weapons relating to maritime security  in South Africa.  SA Authorities will NOT allow any Vessels into South African waters if the 21 day vetting process has not been adhered to through their respective shipping agent. Now, to get this right, this new message means the South African authorities now do really mean and insist on a full fledged 21 day process as from yesterday.   This news is already official and is being stringently enforced. Currently, it seems that all the processing of permits is being moved and centralised to Pretoria , Johannesburg. We do not know as yet how the administration in Pretoria will cope with the extra work load and if things will be done in a timely fashion… we can only wait and see. Such drastic decisions may have been taken due to some problems arising in some recent operations. The actual facts are still to be confirmed. Hence if you want your operations not to be affected early planning is of essence. Further if you consider the police procedure extract below, we should not take any chances with future operations:

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In order to transit weapons through Durban , South Africa, a vetting process is conducted by the S.A. police, which requires important information and documents to be lodged 21 working days prior to the vessel arrival in the seaport of entry for the application of any firearms and ammunition permit.

If the Vessel is already en-route to S.A. and no permit was applied for in the period provided, such Vessel with firearms is non compliant with the Firearm Control Act (act 60 of 2000) and if these arms are brought in SA territory is considered a very serious offence by the local authorities. Please take good notice of this fact as the Master of the Vessel will be charged and firearms and ammunition will be confiscated.

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We, as Shipping Agent,  will monitor closely the situation above and keep you posted. In the meantime, should you require any further information regarding the above or handling of future calls, please  contact:

Jayson Govender

Port Agency Services (Durban)

Address : 75 Winder Street 9th Floor ,

Office 5/6 , Durban,  South Africa , 4001

Mobile  :  +27 72 5987889

Fax        :  +27 86 224 2561

 Email : [email protected]

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