Dubai Customs Ensures Supply Chain Continuity During Pandemic

Dubai Customs has played a pivotal role in ensuring the continuity of global and local supply chains amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Customs inspection and clearance operations at sea, air and land entry-points have been running around the clock to ensure smooth flow of cross-border trade as well as make sure goods shipments and medical supplies are delivered on time to respective consignees.

This has been possible thanks to the advanced technology infrastructure, which Dubai Customs has built over the years.

Customs transactions are being processed electronically through Mirsal 2, a state-of-the-art clearance system that has helped in more efficiency in Customs work including automatic approval and clearance of about 97% of no-risk consignment transactions in 2 minutes without any human intervention.

Customs transactions processed by Dubai Customs jumped 36% in the first five months of 2020 to reach 5.9 million compared to 4.4 million transactions in the corresponding period of 2019.

Dubai Customs completed 5.88 million transactions (99.2%) through smart and online channels, with only 0.8% done through the service counters.

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Customs declarations rose 42% in the first five months of this year to reach 5 million declarations compared to 3.5 million declarations in the corresponding period in the previous year.

Dubai saw exceptional growth in business registrations at 107,000 applications, growing 95% from 55,000 in the first five months in 2019.

In terms of customs inspection and examination of goods, business has went undisrupted despite the lockdown, which helped secure society and economy against illegitimate trade activities and smuggling of prohibited and hazardous items.

The Customs Inspection Division at Dubai Customs is following an integrated strategic plan to handle the Covid-19 pandemic.

The plan is carried out in tandem with other government departments through sharing latest updates about Covid-19 via an operations room working around the clock.

Dubai Customs has made available all necessary tools for its employees during the remote working period.

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These included the virtual desktop which enables user to host all office applications and work from anywhere, Mizlay which enables employees to safely access their emails and other Dubai Customs applications, and Microsoft TEAMS for online meetings and communication.

Using Dubai Customs’ smart channels, clients can access all the services and clear their shipments without any need for a physical visit to customs centers.

This is part of Dubai Customs precautionary measures against the outbreak of Covid-19 in line with the UAE government regulations and directives.

Further, the department also issued a notice enabling businesses to submit electronic bills of lading and delivery orders without the need for physical stamping.

Dubai Customs’ Innovation Center organized a series of online brainstorming sessions, which involved different departments and customs centers.

This came in line with the remote working plan implemented at Dubai Customs as one of the precautionary measures to contain and curb the outbreak of Covid-19.

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