The U.S based company will charge Euro 39 for each scanning of containers or other transportation vehicles which is estimated to bring Euro 12 million in annual revenues to the concessionaire
TIRANA, April 24 – United States-based Rapiscan Security has been awarded a 15-year concession contract to scan containers and vehicles in five Albanian customs points in an effort to prevent smuggling of excise goods and narcotics. The decision was approved this week in the parliamentary economy committee receiving only the votes of the ruling Democrats, while the opposition demanded that the service remains under state management.
Under the contract with Rapiscan Security, the U.S based company will charge Euro 39 for each scanning of containers or other transportation vehicles which is estimated to bring Euro 12 million in annual revenues to the concessionaire considering that the Customs Administration reports some 300,000 declarations. The Albanian government will get 2 percent of the income.
Containers or vehicles with a weight of up to 1,000 kg or goods worth up to Euro 1,000 will be excluded from the tariff. Finance Ministry officials say the contracting of a concessionaire was a necessity considered that the customs administration lacks both qualified staff to carry out the scanning and necessary financial resources to maintain the equipment.
As the world’s leading security screening provider, Rapiscan Systems provides state of the art products, solutions and services that meet our customers’ most demanding threat detection needs while improving operational efficiency. Rapiscan Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of OSI Systems (NASDAQ:OSIS), is headquartered in Hawthorne, California and has additional offices and manufacturing in Finland, India, Malaysia, Singapore, United Kingdom and the United States.
The contract comes just after the Albanian government has signed a 10-year concession contract with Austria-based Global Fluids International to monitor the quality of fuel by marking it. The Association of Fuel Importers describes the concession as an unfair monopoly which risks a further increase in fuel prices, already at their historical record high levels.
