Following the success of the Skill Development training sessions in the field of “Customs Clearance and Delivery of Goods” in March 2020, members of the Association Professionnelle des Transitaires (APT) came forward with new upskilling programmes. Hence, the APT in collaboration with the HRDC implemented a second training programme on “Declaration and classification of goods at MRA / customs for tax/VAT purposes”.

To further upskill their employees, the APT, which regroups the main logistics providers of Mauritius, has mounted a customised training programme on preparing bills which is a vital document needed in order to transport goods.

During networking sessions with APT members, it was highlighted that:
•    The sector is quite dynamic and has experienced rapid developments;
•    There is a need to professionalise certain key posts; and
•    There is a need to upskill employees in different fields of documentation, commercial and legal aspects of the freight forwarding business.

The training was customised to meet the needs of the sector and delivered by Latiff Mohamudally Institute of Management Ltd (LM Institute) together with the APT.

The main objectives of this project were to skill employees working directly with business and commercial firms for their regular imports and exports, both for air and sea mode; and to ensure that employees are skilled enough to manage flow of goods from vendors to buyers in a seamless way. The training also aimed to facilitate the transactions of end customers by ensuring a perfect flow of their goods through precise and correct documentation and follow up of their consignments.

Some of the salient training components included Incoterms 2020; Understanding documentary letter of credit and documentation; Legal functions of a bill of lading and the legal role and capacity of freight forwarders in a house bill of lading; Obligations and duties arising under a bill of lading; Legal remedies available to a party to a bill of lading dispute; Introduction of the international cargo liability regime for carriage of goods; and Application of Hague-Visby Rules in bill of lading and contracts of carriage.

The training programme, which comprised both theoretical and practical sessions with case studies and guest lectures, was carried out in workshop styles for around 35 participants from 10 organisations in the sector.

The desired outcomes of the programme are to upskill learners in the preparation and processing of documents, among others. Ultimately, the sector would be faced with better customer service. International implications leading to delays in consignments, penalties and losses in business would be minimised with less mistakes at that level.