Facilitating Trade:
Improving Customs Risk Management Systems
In the OIC Member States
13
systems) at the BCPs. Also, of utmost importance is the knowledge and experience of customs
officers at the BCPs to identify suspicious or anomalous behavior by passengers and implement
further examination.
2.1.5.3 Sea transportation
Sea transport remains the major mode of transport in international trade. Maritime shipping is
generally used for large quantity shipments with lower commercial value and a longer delivery
timeframe. The transport document used in the sea transport is the bill of lading (B/L), and a
B/L has important information for that can be used for risk assessment before the actual arrival
of the ship. Table 3 presents the different modes of transport and CRM elements:
Table 3: Modes of Transport and CRM Elements
Mode of Transport
Processes Air Transport
Rail
Transport
Road
Transport
Sea
Transport
Cargo pre-arrival information Easy Easy Easy Easy
Passenger pre-arrival information Easy Difficult Difficult Difficult
Speed Fast Slow Moderate Slow
Costs High Moderate Moderate Low
Cargo Selectivity/Targeting Easy Easy Easy Easy
Passengers Selectivity/Targeting Easy Difficult Difficult Difficult
Tracking and Tracing of Shipments Yes No No Yes
Source: Author’s compilation
2.1.5.4 Other modes of transportation
In addition to these three above mentioned modes of transport, other conveyance possibilities
can be used to transport specific types of goods.
 Pipelines are a mode of transport restricted to commodities that are liquids or gas such
as oil and natural gas.
 Electronic transport or cable is the fastest mode of transport, but it is limited to special
commodities that can be transported electronically, such as electric energy, data, and
products containing electronic data such as music, pictures, and text.
 Unmanned aerial vehicle transport is still in a testing stage and other
transportation companies). This method uses drone transportation of goods and
currently is used on a regional or national level, but the technological developments are
promising. This mode of transport could become a global option for express transport
of small quantity of goods and small-parcel delivery.
These modes of transport, especially the transport through pipelines and the electric transport,
energy are performed by authorized traders that are part of the risk assessment in the
authorized process. On the other hand, these modes of transport use equipment that can
precisely measure the quantity of the transported goods.