Express Trailers gives Customs access to inspect transported goods

Logistics company Express Trailers has signed an agreement with Malta Customs to share resources related to security, compliance exercises and newly introduced procedures.

The agreement will also bind both sides to undertake simultaneous training particularly on the identification and handling of risks.

Express Trailers will cooperate with Customs to safeguard the integrity of the supply chain, checking items that may need to be kept in ‘quarantine’, submit a declaration of interest by employees, and submit lists of any unclaimed goods left in temporary storage beyond the stipulated timeframe.

Express will also allow the Department of Customs to inspect any goods prior to release whereas the Department of Customs is committing itself towards inspecting unclaimed intra-community goods that will remain in possession of Express Trailers, prior to their disposal. Customs will also provide training to the personnel of Express Trailers to be better prepared to prevent and detect any abuse in the transportation of goods.

The memorandum of understanding was signed between Franco Azzopardi, CEO of Express Group, and Customs’ director-general Joseph A. Chetcuti.

“Criminal activity is becoming more sophisticated, and criminals increasingly look out for the weakest links. We simply do not want to be one of those weak links and therefore Express Trailers took the initiative to seek an MoU with Malta’s Customs Department,” Azzopardi said.

“Through this agreement with Malta’s Customs, we continue to set the bar in the industry while reaffirming our company’s high levels of control, transparency, and seriousness - qualities that have always defined Express Trailers,” added Franco Azzopardi.

The agreement, a first with a Maltese logistics company, is an initiative that will seek to establish a stronger working relationship between the two parties, laying down better procedures to be followed in relation to specific circumstances to ensure the best possible, efficient, and effective cooperation and assistance.

Customs has already signed an MoU with two other private companies, but this is the first with a logistics company, which has also acquired the status of Authorised Economic Operator.

“Express Trailers, like all other logistics operators, has gone through its fair share of events, took stock of what happened in the past and was determined to improve its standards. We are highly respectful of this company’s commitment to quality in its push for a safer logistics sector against the threat of criminality.”