Multi-Site Transitional Facility makes importing easier — Exporter Magazine

On 1 July 2015, MPI fees for the establishment and maintenance of Transitional Facilities for importers increased dramatically. These price increases have been brought about due to MPI’s costs associated with an increase in monitoring of transitional facilities. This monitoring includes operators being held more accountable and unannounced MPI ‘snapshot’ audits. These are conducted to ensure all Transitional Facilities have trained operators and are meeting their biosecurity requirements. 

To alleviate these costs, Independent Verification Services (IVS) has worked collaboratively with MPI to give importers a choice. IVS’s new Multi-Site Transitional Facility (MTF) means importers can now have their imported low risk containers unpacked onsite without the cost of operating a Transitional Facility. This new service greatly reduces the financial strain, paperwork and stress associated with importing goods.

The MTF service is a solution to the requirement of maintaining a permanent Transitional Facility on site. IVS managing director Peter Webb says the IVS’s Multi-Site service is essentially “a facility that comes to your door with MPI-approved staff and equipment”. 

You will no longer have the cost and hassle of MPI training, registration fees, MPI audits, operating procedures, disposal of biosecurity waste or MPI reporting, he says. This makes the whole exercise of importing goods simple, saving importers time and money. All the importer needs is a suitable hard surface area and IVS will do the rest.

Auckland-based freight forwarders GCS Logistics is a prime example of how effective the service can be in taking care of small to medium sized businesses’ biosecurity requirements. “We have been utilising the IVS Multi-Site Transitional Facility since October 2014, across a wide variety of our clients, and have found the service to be fantastic,” says Kirsten Richardson of GCS. “They are highly responsive, really personable and they take away the hassle of the clearance, paperwork and any unique decontamination requirements of the containers.” Indeed, so much so, that this year, Richardson  is not going to bother to renew her own MPI accreditation, believing that by utilising the IVS service, she is freeing up time and dollars to spend on areas that are more in need of her expertise and resources. 

Such sentiments are echoed by Christchurch-based importer Sean Khalesi of Kalessie Bathroomware who says, “as the business sector starts to feel the squeeze, the economic and time-saving benefits our business gets from IVS are becoming really essential.”

This is a story mirrored nationwide, as IVS see importers of low-risk containers signing up daily to this new service. 

To see a full breakdown of a Price Comparison between running your own Transitional Facility and using the new IVS MTF service, go to: http://ivslimited.co.nz/mtfpricecomparison

If you would like to know more about this new service contact mtf@ivsltd.co.nz or phone 0800 021 169.