Mozambique Customs recently implemented an escort measure aimed at stopping fuel smuggling between the Port of Maputo and the Ressano Garcia Border Post. However, carriers specializing in hazardous goods (Hazchem) fear that this strategy is creating an increased risk scenario for tanker drivers, neighboring populations, and infrastructure along the route. The information was released on Monday, May 12, by the news portal Carta de Moçambique.
According to the agency, Mike Fitzmaurice, regional vice president of the African Union’s Transport and Logistics Organization, warned of the dangers of this approach. The so-called “columns” are organized twice a day by a private security company hired by the Mozambican Tax Authority (ATM).
He explained that hundreds of tanker trucks enter the National Road Number Four (N4) corridor daily from Maputo and are first gathered in the waiting area at Kilometer Four, on the Mozambican side of the border. From there, they are allowed to continue towards South Africa, more specifically to an area known as “The Canopies.”
“All vehicles arrive at the border at the same time, which is causing major congestion,” he said. According to a note from ATM, the measure was implemented with the aim of combating fuel theft. “Customs officials claim to have discovered that criminal elements in Mozambique have found ways to circumvent the security seals placed on cargo and are illegally unloading fuel in national territory,” ATM said.
Transport companies specializing in hazardous goods (Hazchem) fear that this strategy is creating an increased risk for tanker drivers, neighboring populations, and infrastructure along the route.
Fitzmaurice, however, questions the logic of this explanation. “Even if organized crime syndicates have indeed developed means to breach the seals—which are technologically advanced—and have the logistical capacity to store or redistribute large quantities of fuel, this does not justify the current strategy,” he said.
“It’s strange, because each tanker truck is equipped with four seals: one at the front, two on the second trailer, in the cargo compartments, and an additional one on the first trailer, next to the bulwark. If any of these seals are broken, or if there is interference with the GPS signal, the telematics system automatically detects the occurrence,” he explained.
The practice has been to gather the vehicles in Matola, outside the port, forming “trains” that are escorted to Ressano Garcia. “It is easy to imagine the size of these trains and the number of trucks involved,” commented the official.
For Fitzmaurice, this is neither a safe nor sustainable approach, especially considering that the distance between the port and the border is only 80 kilometers. “In the event of a seal breach, response vehicles could be dispatched immediately from the control room. These seals are traceable in real time,” he pointed out, before concluding: “There is surely a more professional and less dangerous way to ensure the safe transport of flammable liquids.”
“It’s strange, because each tanker truck is equipped with four seals: one at the front, two on the second trailer, in the cargo compartments, and an additional one on the first trailer, next to the bulwark. If any of these seals are broken, or if there is interference with the GPS signal, the telematics system automatically detects the occurrence.”
The official also revealed that on Thursday, May 8, two load authorizations issued by ATM disappeared during loading in Matola. These authorizations, claimed by the contracted security company and later returned to the transporters in Ressano, raise new questions about the documentary control of the process.
Meanwhile, suspicions have arisen that the country may be violating several international standards relating to the transport of dangerous substances by road, namely those established by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNECA) and provided for in the Protocol on Transport, Communications and Meteorology of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), to which the country is a signatory.
Finally, transport operators were advised to familiarize themselves with the World Customs Organization’s “SAFE Framework,” which aims at risk-based border control and trade facilitation in the transport of high-risk goods, such as fuel.
