More improvements this Christmas at Kingston Wharves

Kingston Wharves Limited (KWL), for the second successive year, has increased measures to improve cargo clearance during the busy Christmas season.

KWL will be open for business on three Saturdays in December leading up to Christmas, starting this Saturday, December 3 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. As such, the wharves will also open on Saturday, December 10 and Saturday, December 17 during the same hours.

These additional days will specifically facilitate warehouse delivery of personal effects and commercial cargo, Kingston Wharves said in a release. The flat rate for customs duty on personal effects imported in barrels remains at $5,000 each.

"KWL encourages its customers to check with their respective shipping agent, freight forwarder or customs broker regarding their business hours and make arrangements to collect all pertinent documents before coming to clear their cargo," the release said. "Additionally, this festive season, the Customs House collections and accounts unit (the cashier's area) will be opened from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on these Saturdays as well. As a result, the C87 entries that are passed from the 'night lodgement system' will be available for collection at the respective lodgement areas."

Kingston Wharves said other initiatives expected to directly impact the quality of service for customers included changes implemented at the Kingport Building. Designated lines for customs brokers, freight forwarders and agents, an express line, additional cashiers and information officers have been introduced.

Also accessible will be a customer information line for charges and other queries. A team of customer service representatives, known as facilitators, were introduced last year to assist customers with completing the relevant forms. "These facilitators will return this year, and this courtesy will be extended to customers who require special assistance, including senior citizens," Kingston Wharves said.

In partnership with the Jamaica Customs Department, KWL has mobilised additional resources to enhance the customer cargo clearance experience. In the weeks ahead, the capacity in the Customs central manifest office will be expanded in some critical areas. To this end, additional customs clerks will be in place and more customer queuing space will be created to accommodate the lines that these additional clerks will be serving. As the volume dictates, additional customs officers will also be on duty.

Further enhancements have been made to KWL's IT systems as it relates to cargo retrieval this year, to facilitate the creation of an information hub where issues can be addressed immediately. Additional cargo handlers are now in place to process the increased cargo volumes, the release said.

The company said the resumption of container stripping at nights during December will allow cargo to be ready for clearance during normal daytime business hours.

business@gleanerjm.com