For the past four days, the Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) World System at the Customs and Excise Division has been non-functional after it crashed, causing considerable delays for business people and increasing their costs on fees for clearing goods.
The T&T Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) yesterday lashed out at Customs and Excise for the situation, demanding swift, decisive and comprehensive action to deal with the shutdown.
In a release, the TTMA said it had been informed the genesis of the problem was the transfer of Customs and Excise’s IT servers to the new Customs and Excise building, Government Campus Plaza, Port-of-Spain.
It added: “Notwithstanding this, TTMA is firmly of the view that this shutdown is not acceptable and that the transfer of servers should have been handled more seamlessly.
“The costs being incurred by our membership include mounting port rent and demurrage charges as well as all the costs associated with the considerable delays in getting raw materials in and finished goods out of the country.”
TTMA's Marc Sandy, team lead, business development, said he believed the division must take full responsibility for the occurrence.
He said once the system was urgently restored there must be full reimbursement to all affected companies for port rent and demurrage charges incurred.
“At a time when building the export capabilities of local manufacturers and maximising market access for our goods and services is critical for the expansion of the sector, the inability to quickly and effectively address these inefficiencies is hampering the competitiveness of the sector.
“The costs incurred as a result of this will only serve to dampen our country’s diversification efforts and economic viability,” Sandy said.
A release sent by the Ministry of Communications yesterday said online services, including Asycuda World, eManifests, eDeclarations and Prepayment Accounts through the Customs Border Control System (CBCS), would be manually processed until Friday.
“In order to operate efficiently the manual system during this brief period, the Customs and Excise Division has advised importers and exporters of requirements they must meet to process transactions,” the release added.