Delivering on its 'IT Vision Year 2000' plan, Dubai Ports and Customs (DPC) has launched E-Mirsal, an e-government e-commerce solution.
E-Mirsal is the e-commerce version of the Mirsal Cargo Community System (CCS) developed by its Information Technology Center (ITC). Built on Microsoft Windows NT Server and Microsoft SQL Server platform, E-Mirsal allows agents, shipper, transport companies and other organisations in the cargo business to process their customs clearing documents and payments 24 hours a day and seven days a week using the Internet. The Windows DNA application allows the Mirsal client-server, the CCS, to processes up to 8,000 transactions per day for air, land and sea customs offices.
DPC is proud to be able to announce the first e-commerce initiative for customs clearing in the Middle East region, says UAE Customs Council chairman and Dubai Customs director general Dr Obaid Saqer Busit.
"We believe that E-Mirsal will provide the region with an excellent example of how governments and businesses can work more efficiently together using the latest Internet technologies. We expect E-Mirsal to make customs transactions a great deal more efficient for both the Dubai Ports and Customs organisation and its customers. In addition to making our customers clearance requests more convenient and trouble free," he says.
"Mirsal initiative is an exceptional example of how government processes can be improved using technology. Mirsal's suite of applications are all the more impressive due to the fact that DPC's team has totally owned and driven the project," says Microsoft Gulf and Eastern Mediterranean (GEM) general manager Bahram Mohazzebi.
"E- Mirsal takes the proven benefits of the Mirsal CCS to a much wider audience and offers access to the system via any Internet-connected PC. This shows the power of e-government - offering businesses the opportunity to reap benefits by using Internet-enabled service applications, which in turn brings new efficiencies to the government departments concerned."
E-Mirsal allows importers to enter the necessary information for customs clearance processing via a secure website. The website automatically calculates duties and fees. It allows the customer to pay using either a standing order or a credit account. E-Mirsal allows companies to process almost all of their paperwork online, eliminating the old physical system and providing greater efficiency and customer service. Some customers will not have to visit custom counters at all by taking their own computer print out to the port to collect their consignment.
E-Mirsal system automatically determines whether a counter visit is required for each shipment based on its contents, customer history and any intelligence gathered about the shipment that may make it suspect.
"Mirsal has already streamlined the process of applying for customs clearance for import, export and re-export for many customers of DPC," says Dr Busit. "However, the client/server solution requires the customer to make a significant IT investment, which may not be within the reach of every customer. E-Mirsal makes this service available to anyone who has access to the Internet."
Mirsal integrates air, land and sea customs processes in one network, linking nine individual customs offices, Dnata and the Dubai Ports Authority (DPA) with the cargo community. Over the past year Mirsal has integrated many of the operations of the agents that deal with Dubai customs authorities on a day-to-day basis including air agents, national airlines, agent warehousing companies, transportation companies, companies at the Dubai Airport Free Trade Zone, more than 216 shipping companies and 1,250 Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone (JAFZ) companies. E-Mirsal now opens the network's service up to thousands of imports, exporters and cargo companies.
The solution is expected to facilitate a new generation of cargo community as the majority of sea and air agents, freight forwarders, importers and free zone companies are expected to go online to accommodate the faster transportation of goods and document, says Busit.
