Building a vibrant, world-class industry

FOR OVER five decades, the Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association of Jamaica (CBFFAJ) has been a dependable partner of the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA), in the ongoing effort to build a vibrant, world-class customs clearance, logistics, and brokerage industry.

We are Jamaica’s leading association of customs broking professionals, with over 200 members united by a shared mission to:

I Promote and uphold the highest professional standard in our industry;

I Be a source of the most credible industry related information;

I Seek to broaden public understanding of the customs brokerage and freight forwarding process and;

I Serve as a strong advocate for the interest of our members, this, towards the sustainable development of our profession.

On the occasion of International Customs Day, and in consideration of the theme ‘A secure business environment for economic development’, the CBFFAJ will continue to advocate for an enabling environment that fosters and reinforces a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation.

In this regard, we applaud the Jamaica Customs Agency on its journey of modernisation and operational efficiency. The implementation of the ASYCUDA System, when functioning seamlessly, is an excellent management tool for the JCA and the entire industry.

With further capital investments, training, proactive development, and legislative reform for the repeal and replacement of the Customs Act; we believe Jamaica will strengthen its position to recover ground in global performance benchmarks such as the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) and move well beyond the current ranking.

Jamaica, which ranked at 70 in the LPI index in 2014, slipped to 119 among 160 countries in 2016.

Corruption remains a clear and present danger to commerce and industry in Jamaica. If legitimate businesses are forced to continue competing with entities engaged in illicit activities, then their operations and employees are put at peril.

The CBFFAJ holds to the position that growing the economy and securing the business environment will require a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of corruption. Instances of under-invoicing, bribery, counterfeit goods entering the market, the proverbial ‘looking the other way’, or failure to report corrupt activities, all contribute to the undermining of our industry and must be addressed to eventually eradicate this blot on our trade system.

On the other hand, the CBFFAJ will support all initiatives to make trade facilitation easier by redoubling the efforts to remove the bureaucracies in the clearance process and establishing clear standards and procedures for the handling of the various types of shipments. These standard operating procedures must be consistent across all 64 JCA offices islandwide and must also be clearly articulated to all stakeholders, especially importers and exporters.

As we seek to provide a premium service for our many customers, the CBFFAJ will continue to deepen its close ties with the JCA by participating on the various committees and advisory boards, and generally sharing our insights and perspectives.

We stand ready to bring the energy of our ideas and the force of our expertise and experience, and to capitalise on the opportunities flowing through our ports of entry.