Case study: Monitoring of goods in transit in Burkina Faso

The challenge

With the increase in the flow of goods in the region, Burkina Faso is not spared from fraudulent practices and must therefore efficiently manage goods in transit in order to guarantee a maximum level of security and ensure the optimisation of customs revenue collection.

As the status of goods in transit is special, it was essential for Burkina Faso to put in place a solution that would allow it to avoid congestion at the borders, optimise the use of its resources, and put an end to fraud aimed at circumventing customs duties, notably false transit. Indeed, the geographical location of Burkina Faso, a crossroads country, exposes it to a high risk of fraud on goods crossing its territory towards Mali and Niger.

It is in this context that a transit monitoring system was set up to meet the many challenges posed by customs transit, with the aim of ensuring the efficient circulation of goods in compliance with the WTO agreement on trade facilitation.

The solution

Burkina Faso has chosen Cotecna to provide a state-of-the-art technological solution for the tracking and securing of goods in transit. Through the provision of state-of-the-art tracking devices and e-seals and access to an advanced monitoring platform, Cotecna offers a comprehensive and efficient service based on Customs requirements.

Thanks to Cotrack®, Burkina Faso now has a solution that enables to monitor the flow of goods on its territory in real-time on most of the country's corridors, thus ensuring perfect control of the movement of goods and increased reactivity in the event of suspicious behaviours.

About the Cotrack® solution

Cotrack® was specifically designed and developed by Cotecna to facilitate the movement of goods and help Customs better regulate the flow of goods at the national or regional level. The versatile nature of the Cotrack® solution allows it to secure all types of cargo and to alert in case of abnormal events such as the opening of container doors, deviation from the authorized route, or a stop in a high-risk area. The solution consists of:

• A management and monitoring platform: the intelligent platform allows the solution to be operated, alerts and interventions in the field to be supervised in real-time and data recovered in the field to be analysed
• Fixed and mobile tracking devices: They ensure active and continuous monitoring of the security and integrity of cargo. They report any violation of their status and that of their associated devices.
• Electronic seals: Electronic seals are used to secure items such as container doors or tank valves. They periodically report their status to the tracking device, with any unauthorized opening triggering an alert.

Cotecna also provides a complete service from project implementation, funding and training of Customs agents, as well as the maintenance of the solution. In order to provide our clients with a service that is as close as possible to the needs on the ground, Cotecna regularly upgrades its solution.

For many years, we have been providing a service oriented towards excellence with the objective of guaranteeing continuous monitoring that adapts to each environment. The solution is in operation in many countries and has secured and monitored over three hundred thousand transits in Burkina Faso since February 2015.

Cotrack® in Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso has renewed its confidence in Cotecna to assist in its modernization process through the use of new electronic transit monitoring technologies.

For this project, Cotecna provides more than 4,600 devices and 8,000 new generation e-seals to modernize the tracking of goods in transit.

These new intelligent devices also allow for the monitoring and securing of nearly 45,000 tankers carrying hydrocarbons in transit in Burkina Faso.

In addition to these tracking devices, Cotecna provides Customs with a complete tracking platform with all the functionalities to visualize transits in real-time on an interactive map, but also to collect field data useful for the continuous improvement process.

Cotrack® Operating Diagram

As illustrated in the process below, the Cotrack® solution allows, following the customs declaration, to initiate the transit quickly. Within minutes the tracking devices are active and start transmitting key information. At the end of the transit, if no suspicious behaviour has been detected, the vehicles are released through facilitated customs clearance procedures.

Cotrack® Workflow

Cotecna supports Burkina Faso Customs throughout the contract, ensuring the deployment of the project, the provision of the new technical solution and the implementation of the new sites. Cotecna supports the operation of the solution during the creation of transits, throughout the transit and finally at the end of the transit. Cotecna also manages logistics and maintenance to ensure the highest level of equipment and system availability and has trained nearly 700 Customs agents.

Cotecna is involved in the following stages:

• Support for the operation of the solution;
• Logistics and equipment maintenance;
• Technical assistance;
• Capacity building.

Transits supervision area

In addition to providing the technical solution and operational support, Cotecna is in charge of creating new departure/arrival sites that will increase the number of corridors and thus further extend the transit supervision area.

Currently, 90 corridors are covered by the Cotrack® solution, with the creation of these new sites at different strategic locations in the country, nearly 85% of all strategic corridors linking Burkina Faso to neighbouring countries will be covered by the project.

This is a further important step towards optimising and securing cross-border trade, which also strengthens Burkina Faso's position in the region.

The benefits

Through our involvement and by effectively fighting fraud, Burkina Faso has better controlled the monitoring of transits and reduced the risk of tax evasion. The collaboration between Cotecna and Burkina Faso Customs has also generated many other benefits:

• Cotrack® has facilitated trade flows in the region by avoiding border congestion through simplified procedures and reducing the need for Customs escorts;
• In addition to accessing state-of-the-art technology to efficiently track and secure transit, choosing Cotrack® Burkina Faso has long strengthened the ability of customs to limit the risk of fraud and deter users;
• The system has an average availability of 98%, guaranteeing uninterrupted surveillance 24/7.

In addition, the new solution provides better control of statistics and key performance indicators, enabling Customs to continue to optimise resources without reducing service quality.

Cotecna has a long-standing commitment to Burkina Faso and looks forward to continuing this collaboration.