Creating the Ultimate Instrument of Customs Control
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-26, 09:40authored byDyer, JA
Vessels and seaports, as conduits for international trade growth, serving over 90% of world commerce, ascend to ever greater significance in a cost-conscious world reeling from the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. Ensuring the security of these through cost-efficacious practical measures becomes more and more essential to avoid the costs of threats disrupting the potential international supply chain management system and the costs of disrupting trade. Given the increasing risks of terrorism and global piracy, ensuring a custom's service that is sufficiently modernised to simultaneously ensure the challenges of both trade facilitation and securitisation is essential. This is paramount throughout the world but particularly for the vulnerable east Indian Ocean facing Somalian piracy, port strikes and terrorism combined with historically underinvested customs facilities. This paper utilises the main global elements, in particular through measures endorsed globally and the specific example of South Africa to attempt to provide some insight into formulating a custom's response to global maritime security challenges, that governments facing scarce customs resources could potentially endorse to further ensure the defence of seaports, vessels and trade, particularly for the east Indian Ocean.