Dear Value Client,
As you will be well aware, South Africa has entered a Lockdown period starting from midnight Thursday 26 March for a period of 21 days ending at midnight on Thursday 16 April 2020. During which time only those services designated as ‘Essential Services’ will be permitted to operate, in accordance to the regulations issued in terms of section 27(2) of the Disaster Management Act, 2002.
Whilst there was a lot of ‘grey area’ running up to the start of the Lockdown period last week with many of our partners and ourselves not certain as to where this left us in the logistics industry we decided to hold off issuing an update from our side until we had a clear understanding as to what we can & cannot transport whilst keeping within the temporary laws.
As some of you may have experienced this was not as straight forward to determine as it should have been and together with the CIPC website being down regularly made it all that more difficult to get paperwork in order before Lockdown started!
However, I am pleased to advise that M6T Seal Cargo Services has received our CIPC Essential Services certificate and we are ready to assist you with transporting ‘essential goods’ both locally and inbound from overseas. A copy of our certificate is available on request or you can download a copy here
Government has since published further amendments to the act on the 25th March 2020 to assist in guidance in terms of the regulations in place during Lockdown and basically we will only be able to transport ‘Essential Goods’ during this period. Please bear in mind that we are also able to transport products outside of the actual ‘finished’ goods listed further below, as long as they are directly linked to the Essential Goods / Services. For example: Importing a spare part needed for a food processing machine.
Below is an extract from various amendments made to the Act in the past few days which covers the category of essential goods as well as services which can be offered with regards to transport, the originals can be found here:
ANNEXURE B:
CATEGORISATION OF ESSENTIAL GOODS AND SERVICES DURING LOCKDOWN
Regulation 11A
A. GOODS
Food
(i) Any food product, including non -alcoholic beverages;
(ii) Animal food; and
(iii) Chemicals, packaging and ancillary products used in the production of any food
product.
2. Cleaning and Hygiene Products
(i) Toilet Paper, sanitary pads, sanitary tampons, condoms;
(ii) Hand sanitiser, disinfectants, soap, alcohol for industrial use, household cleaning
products, and personal protective equipment; and
(iii) Chemicals, packaging and ancillary products used in the production of any of the
above.
3. Medical:
(i) Medical and Hospital Supplies, equipment and personal protective equipment; and
(ii) Chemicals, packaging and ancillary products used in the production of any of the
above.
4. Fuel, including coal and gas
5. Basic goods, including airtime and electricity.
A further announcement was made by the Minister of Transport on Friday 27th March 2020, which has introduced Export Control Regulations for products required to combat the spread of the virus. Basically the following products are restricted from being exported from South Africa until further notice,unless the exporter has received a permit through the DTIC & ITAC. Products include masks, hand sanitzers, certain chemicals, vaccines as well as medicament’s. The full list & further details can be found here:
In order for M6T Seal Cargo Services to handle your ‘Essential Goods’ shipments we would need a copy of the CIPC Essential Services certificate for the true shipper / owner of the goods, a copy will need to accompany each shipment as it is transported.
Our Team is working remotely. The safety of our customers and staff remain of utmost importance and we will continue operating with ‘safety first’ being of paramount priority. If you have any questions or are unsure of how your goods/services are classified, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Thank you for your patience during this time, we look forward to providing you with the very best level of service possible during this very challenging time.
