Ukrainian customs denies slowness of Odessa officials

MOSCOW. June 26 (Interfax) - The Ukraine State Customs Service has denied accusations of the Association of International Freight Forwarders of Ukraine, which claimed that the customs thwarted container service at the Odessa seaport.

"The customs are not responsible for the worldwide shame: the customs have not held a single container, and all export goods have been cleared timely," Ukrainian media quoted the State Customs Service's statement on a social network.

The service noted that the association reported on Tuesday a container operator's cancellation of a vessel's call on the Odessa port because of unfounded cargo inspections and delays in customs clearance of export containers with agricultural products and additional storage costs.

"Yet the containers were not presented for customs clearance, which means there could be no checks or delays," the service said.

All declarations for export cargo transported in containers and presented to the customs were cleared in due time and raised no objections, it said.

Yet the service admitted the problem facing the Greater Odessa ports, where a substantial number of containers waiting for customs clearance has accumulated. Documents for only a seventh part of those containers have been submitted to the customs.

The service initiated a meeting on problems with registering exports at the Greater Odessa ports. The European Business Association, the Association of International Freight Forwarders of Ukraine, representatives of container lines, and ship operators were invited to the dialogue, the statement said.

Businesses are concerned about delays in presenting containers for customs clearance. The service explains that with the work of oversight and law enforcement agencies looking for illegal agricultural exports and seizing containers with such goods.

The service also asked cargo owners to step up the submission of customs documents.