Number of customs transactions completed by Dubai Customs has grown to a record 44% in 5 years (2015-2019) to 13 million at the end of 2019 from 8.9 million in 2015.
The growth reflects a robust national economy and the pivotal role Dubai plays as a global trade hub, as well as the modernity and sophistication of Dubai Customs smart services, which have been touted by the World Customs Organization as a model that should be followed worldwide.
There are 10.6 million Customs declarations completed in 2019, which had the lion’s share of growth of Dubai Customs transactions at 82%. This was followed by customs insurance refund requests which rose by 8% to 1 million requests. Vehicle clearance certificates went up by 4% to reach 572,000 certificates, inspection transactions grew 4% to 463,000, and company registration applications rose by 2% to 201,000 companies.
During his evening tour to the Customs Declaration Management (CDM) and the Control Room Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Director General of Dubai Customs stated that 99% of customs transactions in 2019 have been completed online through Dubai Customs smart and electronic channels (12.8 million transactions out of the total 13 million transactions). 44% of these were smart transactions, 55% online transactions and only 1% manual transactions.
The tour was part of regular inspection visits plan put in place to ensure the smooth running of Customs centers and customer service centers across Dubai.
Dubai Customs have developed advanced infrastructure and smart applications and systems such as the Mirsal 2, the customs integrated smart customs platform that helps facilitate legitimate trade and secure the borders.
Musabih added:
“Developing the control room is continuous to ensure even better linkage with all risk indicators and smart systems. There are 23 security customs systems in the control room that work around-the-clock to oversee the performance of 500 cameras in 25 customs centers in Dubai and all inspection and shipping operations, and respond to different calls and enquires. Recently a feature for vessel and suspected shipment tracking has been added.”
Director General of Dubai Customs highly applauded the high level of coordination and integration between different departments towards facilitating customs transactions and securing the borders in fulfilment of the vision of the leadership.
In his evening tour, Musabih was accompanied by Abdullah Mohammed Al Khaja, Executive Director of Clients Management Division, Shuaib Al Suwaidi, Director of Customs Intelligence Department, Ibrahim Kamali, Director of Passenger Operations Department, Majid Al Ali, Acting Director of Customs Declarations Department, and a number of heads of departments.