Dubai Customs announces achievements in Q2 2019

Dubai Customs announced its new achievements in Q2 2019 as a leading customs organisation that supports sustainable economic development in the UAE.

"We go above and beyond in fulfilment of our vision of becoming the leading customs administration in the world supporting legitimate trade and following the directives and guidance of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai," Director of Dubai Customs Ahmed Mahboob Musabih said. "We are applying and adopting the latest AI applications to enhance and upgrade our services and facilities to our clients. This includes carrying out a number of ambitious projects and engaging in the emirate’s bold initiatives such as Dubai Silk Road, one of the 50-year charter articles."

Seizures In conjunction with the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, Dubai Customs announced its latest seizures in Q1 2019. A total of 421 drug smuggling bids have been foiled across Dubai’s various land, sea and air ports of entry. The top narcotics seized were tramadol, captagon, opium, heroin, cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, cannabis seeds, khat, and other drugs.

The biggest illegal drug seizure of Q1 2019 occurred in Jebel Ali Customs Centers in a case that saw a failed attempt to smuggle 5.715 million captagon pills. Airport Passenger Operations made 269 seizures of narcotics, while Land Customs Centers thwarted 98 drug smuggling bids, with 50 more seizures happening in Air Customs Centers, and 3 in Coastal Customs Centers.

Additionally, operational cooperation between the UK’s HMRC and Dubai Customs contributed to the seizure of 198 million cigarettes and 122 tons of other illicit tobacco products destined for the UK/UAE domestic market Productivity engine Dubai Executive Council approved the AI based productivity engine, built and developed by Dubai Customs. The engine has many features which include the ideal time calculator, productivity predictor, and leadership nudges. Most importantly, the innovative engine encompasses an auto-time tracker that highlights productive and unaccounted time and notifies decision makers of productivity scores for each department and employee.

There are certain targets that Dubai Customs looks forward to in the next two years which include reducing workload by 16.8 percent, increasing productivity capacity by 15 percent, automation of operations by 0.5 percent, and better employee commitment by 5.2 percent. This will save 1,280,000 work hours. Dubai Customs grew productivity 15 percent year-on-year after Mirsal 2 joined the service.

Smart berthing Dubai Customs launched a new disruptive berthing service for the vessels using the Dubai Creek,Khor Dubai. The new system: ''Smart Vessel Berthing System'' will help vessels load and unload their goods with the help of an advanced AI based service. It was built in-house by Dubai Customs employees to facilitate traffic of vessels through the historic waterway.

The system will enable trading vessels finalize their transactions online. They can register at the operations room of Dubai Creek Customs Center which will direct the vessels to the waiting quays using the Smart Vessel Berthing System. The vessels are then directed to certain wharfs to load or unload their goods. Dubai Creek Port deals with around 50 other ports in nine countries.

The new berthing system will enable to fast-track work at the Creek and help vessels load and unload goods faster and easier. Dubai Creek Customs Center dealt with 15,603 vessels in 2018 (7,828 incoming and 7,775 outgoing vessels). In Q1 2019, the center dealt with 4,190 vessels (2,078 incoming and 2,112 outgoing).

More cooperation with partners Sultan bin Sulayem, DP World Group Chairman & CEO and Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, received a delegation from Dubai Police headed by Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police. The meeting covered different issues of cooperation in security, and paved the way to a future agreement on different aspects.

Bin Sulayem took the visitors on a tour where they saw different facilities at Dubai Customs and viewed the customs operation room, the first of its kind in the region, that controls 500 surveillance cameras in 25 customs entry points in Dubai.

The delegates also visited the Customs Declarations Management, which is in charge of clearance of all goods around-the-clock using Mirsal 2 system. The management did 7.5 million declarations in 2018, and achieved 95 percent client happiness thanks to its advanced services and facilities including early clearance.

Growth in trade Dubai non-oil foreign trade figure recorded AED339 billion in the first quarter of 2019, which represents an increase of 7 percent year-on-year from AED316 billion in Q1 last year. Export figures increased the most at 30 percent to AED42 billions, re-export was up 7 percent at AED106 billion and imports were up 4 percent at AED190 billion.

Data released by Dubai Customs showed that Dubai trade grew 58 percent through the 2010-2019 decade; an increase of AED124 billion compared to Q1 2010 trade which made AED215 billion.

Trade through free zones made AED147 billion (+20 percent YoY). Direct trade is the largest contributor to total trade at AED189 billion (-0.5 percent YoY) and customs warehousing accounted for AED2 billion (-21 percent YoY).

Air and sea trade accounted for 85 percent of the total trade, and have both witnessed double digit increases. Air trade accounted for AED158 billion (+11 percent YoY) and sea trade recorded AED129 billion (+10 percent YoY). Trade by land made AED52 billion.

Asia, the largest trading region with Dubai, increased by 7 percent to AED208 billion. Trade with Europe, the second largest partner, made AED58 billion. Africa witnessed the biggest growth, up 36 percent at AED42 billion. Americas and Oceania also contributed with high single digit growth, up 7 percent (AED27 billion) and up 9 percent (AED4 billion) respectively.

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