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A spokesman for the Customs & Excise Department today (Thursday) said the final phase of the Air Cargo Clearance System (ACCS) successfully came into full operation.

"The ACCS is a computer system dedicated to the effective clearance of air cargo via electronic communication between Customs and the cargo operators at the airport," the spokesman explained.

It was designed and administered by Customs with the technical support from the Information Technology Services Department, he added.

For the purpose of speeding up the Customs cargo clearance procedure, the system was first implemented at the start of the new airport in Chek Lap Kok on July 6, 1998.

"It has since remained in stable operation and provided an uninterrupted service," the spokesman noted.

By using the system, Customs has been able to provide an effective and efficient cargo clearance service to the air cargo industry, where import consignments are being processed in a much more quicker way than in the Kai Tak airport before.

According to industry experience, the system has effectively cut short the cargo clearance time by at least two hours.

More than 50 per cent of the incoming flights have now managed to provide electronic cargo data to Customs through the system prior to flight arrival and a majority of them are thus able to receive Customs instructions for clearance of their cargoes before the planes actually touch down in the airport.

"With the smooth transition to Phase 2 in July last year, the system was equipped with an intelligence module for automatic matching and screening of high risk consignments for action by the Department," he said.

Such feature proved to be of extreme value with fruitful results both in facilitation and enforcement aspects, he continued.

By means of this final phase, the system is capable of handling export cargo consignments and this infrastructure lays the foundation for speedy clearance of transshipment cargo - a crucial factor for an effective cargo hub facility and logistic center in Hong Kong.

"It is expected that the new system lays the foundation and provides even better services to the industry in the coming decades", the spokesman concluded.

End/Thursday, February 10, 2000

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