LUSAKA: Authorities in Tanzania have refused to release 50 fuel trucks from Zambia for failure to have electronic cargo tracking system seals which Tanzania has started demanding, state media reported on Thursday. The 50 trucks which were supposed to ferry fuel into Zambia are stuck in the Tanzania port city of Dar-es-Salaam after the implementation of the new system by the Tanzania Revenue Authority because they do not have the e-seal for tracking.
Benson Tembo, general secretary of the Petroleum Transporters Association of Zambia, said it was unfair for the Tanzanian authorities to detain the trucks because the association was not notified in good time on the requirement, according to the Times of Zambia. He said the trucks had gone to collect fuel from Tanzania before the implementation of the electronic cargo tracking system on wet cargo which came into effect on April 27, 2017.
According to the new requirements, transporters were required to buy seals on every compartment of the truck which will cost about 70 U.S. dollars. The new requirement further states that transporters should have the e-seals and related equipment before entering the depots for loading. But the Zambian transporters complained that the move would increase the cost of business for transporters and have asked authorities in the country to liaise with their Tanzanian counterparts.
