nows not a good time to import stuff into the country?



K

Kim

Guest
Anyone read crikey much? only started reading it this mornen...


http://www.crikey.com.au/articles/2005/10/20-1548-8893.html

Business

Australian imports grinding to a halt

By Crikey reporter Michael Newhouse

Australia's ports and airports are near bursting point today because of
the government's new Customs processing system – and according to
industry insiders, Australian imports could dry up to a trickle over the
next week as ports and airports around the country become choked up.

Date: 20 October 2005

Port companies just can't process their goods at anywhere near the speed
needed because nobody in Australian Customs or the industry could handle
the new system and its bugs, chairman of the Custom Brokers and
Forwarders Council of Australia, Bob Wallis, told Crikey today.

"If something doesn't happen today then this country will grind to a
halt," Wallis said. He told Crikey that Customs has planned a crisis
meeting for today to try and resolve the situation, but they were not
moving anywhere near fast enough.
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"The new system that's been forced in doesn't come up to the quality of
the old system," Wallis said, who claimed transport companies had only
gained access to the software a day before they had to go live, and that
training had been virtually non-existent. To get through to one of the
200 Customs operators looking after the new system it could take up to
90-minutes.

The government rolled out its new Integrated Cargo System (ICS) more
than two years late and costing more than five times the price of the
originally estimated $35 million, on October 12 and has been plagued by
problems ever since. The Customs website yesterday acknowledged that the
port companies' systems and the new ICS were not matching data
correctly, which has resulted in processing delays.

Customs broker Bob Gosling told Crikey that he could process less than
10% of the shipments received and criticised the government for pushing
the system onto the industry when it just wasn't ready. "The whole
system has never been tried and tested," Gosling said. "The ports and
airports are spilling over."

Chief executive of Melbourne Ports, Stephen Bradford said that he was
aware of the concerns, but it was more of a crisis for airports than
ports because ports had three to four days to clear their goods compared
to only 24-hours for airports. "It's certainly not an immediate crisis,"
he said. But The Courier-Mail has reported today that one of Australia's
largest ports, NSW's Port Botany, is at 90% capacity and could soon be
brought to a standstill.

At the time of publication Crikey was still waiting to hear back from
Customs Minister Chris Ellison's office, but speaking yesterday to the
Herald Sun, Ellison admitted that storage areas were banking up, but
said he wasn't aware of any ships being turned away from Australian ports.
 
This is more an issue for the minority of brokers who didn't prepare
for the new system. Very easy to tell their clients that "its Customs
fault", rather than say "we stuffed up and weren't ready".....

Abby
 

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