Commissioner of Customs, Wade Smith. Photo: VINO/File

Mr Wade Smith was at the time briefing the House of Assembly’s Standing Finance Committee, on the Virgin Islands (VI) Customs' operations—a significant revenue arm for the treasury, since over 45 per cent of goods are imported into the Territory. Photo: VINO/File

Mr Smith was at the time briefing the House of Assembly’s Standing Finance Committee, on the Virgin Islands (VI) Customs' operations—a significant revenue arm for the treasury, since over 45 per cent of goods are imported into the Territory.

Manual Processing

During the hearing earlier this year—to examine the draft budget allocations for the agency for 2018—Mr Smith, disclosed that following the deadly ‘Category 5’ hurricanes, their recovery efforts were challenged, as there were internet connectivity problems with its Customs Automated Processing (CAP) system.  As such, processing and the clearing process became manual causing delays in persons obtaining items imported.

Mr Smith disclosed to committee members, that Customs have since met with the CAPs developers at IBM, and have “discussed the possibilities of running the CAPS system via Cloud.” He said, “in the event of a disaster, this will enable the system to continue without interruption.” The cloud essentially provides a storage and connectivety platform for its users, often times multi-national corporations, governments and businesses, in addition to the average user.

Centralised Couriers  

The Commissioner informed committee members, all nine official ports of entries in the VI had been damaged during the storms and that Customs was forced to shift operations to facilitate the movements of goods and passengers in a safe and efficient environment.

Mr Smith disclosed that the rebuilding process has begun, and funds are needed to outfit all offices, from Jost Van Dyke to Virgin Gorda. He said, since the hurricanes, management has been discussing ways to streamline and centralise their business and operational processes.

According to Commissioner Smith, they have in the past, discussed the multi-agency facility at Port Purcell, to accommodate Customs, Police, Immigration and other services but with the limited space, he proposed an off-site location. That location, he said, would “accommodate Customs Headquarters, CAPS, (and) a central location for all couriers, as we all know the courier services have grown tremendously.”

The proposed facility would also house the processing operations for all concessions for hotel-aid, first time home builders, commercial licences and cruising permits.