Large retailers have delayed cargo in Odessa

The stores of the largest retail chains are experiencing delays in deliveries. As Kommersant learned, due to problems with customs clearance of cargo in the Odessa port, Metro C&C, Auchan and Sport Master encountered this. Since the beginning of August, customs has not cleared containers with cargo, since SBU checks have been ongoing at the port for the past month. However, customs officials explain that the delays are the fault of forwarders and brokers who are afraid to submit documents during inspections.

Yesterday, the Metro C&C retail chain in Ukraine told Kommersant that since the beginning of August the company has had problems with customs clearance of containers in the Odessa commercial port. “At the end of last week, more than 70 of our containers with cargo worth about UAH 120 million had not been cleared. Because of this, we had shortages in the assortment on the shelves. We are incurring huge losses,” a source at Metro C&C told Kommersant. According to him, only this Monday containers began to arrive at Kyiv customs, but very slowly - 3-4 units per day.

Several Kommersant sources in the retail market claim that similar problems also occurred with the French company Auchan and the Russian Sport Master. And according to I. O. According to the head of the Odessa sea trade port, Yuri Vaskov, about 100 cars have accumulated in the Ilyichevsk port since mid-August. Yesterday the companies did not provide comments, citing the lack of authorized persons.

The European Business Association (EBA) is aware of the problems with retailers' clearance of cargo. “In this regard, we recently had a meeting with representatives of the Kyiv Central Specialized Customs with the participation of members of the association and the first deputy head of the State Customs Service Alexander Dorokhovsky,” says EBA Executive Director Anna Derevyanko. Metro C&C says they also contacted the Ministry of Finance and the customs service, but there was no response from them. The company filed complaints with the German embassy, the Foreign Trade Commission and the American Chamber of Commerce.

Metro C&C says that customs officials attribute the delay in cargo clearance to SBU inspections of smuggling at the port. “Inspections by the SBU are being carried out due to increasing cases of corruption on the part of customs officers,” says a Kommersant source in law enforcement agencies. Yuri Vaskov said that now the process of registering containers at the port takes about 12 hours, whereas 1.5 months ago it took 4 hours: “For comparison, in the EU the clearance time does not exceed half an hour.” According to him, up to 10 government agencies are involved in cargo clearance, so he cannot clarify who exactly is delaying clearance.

However, customs officials claim that there are no problems with customs clearance of goods. It’s just that import volumes traditionally increase in the fall, notes Sergei Semka, director of the department for organizing customs control and clearance of the State Customs Service. “In addition, as soon as law enforcement agencies and customs begin inspections, forwarders and brokers stop submitting documents for clearance. Even if everything is fine with them, they think: what if they find something,” he notes. According to customs data, now an average of 800-900 containers are cleared per day at the Odessa and Ilyichevsk ports, while in July there were approximately 750. Over the past month, 19.5 thousand containers have been cleared. “We are now clarifying the situation with Metro. But I note that sometimes companies work ahead of the curve. For example, Unilever stated that its containers were not cleared for 2 weeks, but, as it turned out, the ship with their cargo had not even entered the port yet,” noted Sergey Semka.

Veronica Gavrilyuk, Natalya Nepryakhina, Elena Sinitsyna

Problems have taken shape