EMEA News
South Africa Seeks Feedback on Proposed Changes to Bunker Customs Regulations
South Africa's authorities are seeking feedback on proposed changes to customs regulations applying to the bunker industry, amid a dispute that has shut down supply at its largest bunkering location for much of the past year.
The South African Revenue Service is seeking feedback by August 20 on regulations on the storage of imported bonded fuel good in special customs and excise storage warehouses, it said an a note on its website.
The regulations are under the country's Customs and Excise Act 1964.
"The amendment is intended to facilitate the refunding of duties paid upon removal of "bonded fuel goods" to the BELN by sea as contemplated in the rules numbered 21.05A, and to add a reference to removal by a "licensed marine remover" as contemplated in those rules," SARS said.
Supply at Algoa Bay was all but shut down in mid-September 2023 after SARS detained five vessels including bunker barges earlier in the month.
This halted the bunker operations of TFG Marine and Minerva Bunkering.
This was followed by one of BP's barges at Algoa Bay also being detained later on in September.
SARS wrote to local shipping industry representatives in July 2023 to announce the findings of a longstanding investigation into the Algoa Bay bunker supply market.
The authority's accusation is that marine fuel cargoes have been delivered from other countries into floating storage facilities off Algoa Bay and sold on as bunkers without first having been properly registered and taxed as imports, rather than transshipped product.
It remains unclear whether this accusation was also being levelled at BP.
Bunker demand in South Africa could currently be going through something of a renaissance because of ships avoiding the Red Sea and Suez Canal because of attacks there, but the country is currently not able fully to take advantage of the situation.
