Frequent complaints of delays in cargo clearance at ports, airports

There have been frequent complaints of cargo being held up at ports and airports. This was not due to some local problem or due to any strike by workers but related to software glitch due to migration to Indian Customs Electronic Data Interchange System (ICES) Version 1.5.

The version 1.5 has centralised all the functions in to a central server operated out of Delhi. The Customs has moved to a central server database from a distributed to disseminate information such as notifications and exchange rates. Message exchange that used to happen at the local level has now moved to a central database.

It is almost a year since the migration to Version 1.5 was initiated to make cargo clearance paperless but the system has not yet stabilised with trade complaining of delays in filing and processing of documents. “At times it takes a couple of weeks to clear a consignment while it used to be three or four days before migration from Version 1.0,” said an official of a leading Custom house agency.

Yet to stabilise

The system has taken too long to stabilise. Even though there will be teething problems, the duration for corrective measures have been lengthy. Every day a new challenge is thrown up by Version 1.5 and attending to the problem leaves a back log of documents to be processed. There should be a stand-by arrangement to process documents whenever the system hangs or faces problem, which presently is absent, he said.

In the last five years, nearly Rs 600 crore has been invested in the entire information technology consolidation programme, including migration to the new version. Also, some of the country's top IT vendors such as Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services are involved in the programme.

The cycle

A transaction happens like this. The document by an importer or exporter through the Custom House Agent (CHA) is uploaded through ICEGATE. The document then travels through the EDI, then to Risk Management System, Customs, banks, payment is made and the cargo is finally released. Earlier, this used to take a few days and now there is no certainty of the time frame.

Over 40,000 documents are filed every day, and a minor glitch anywhere in the system could affect the entire chain. “It is always the Customs Department that has come to sharp focus for any problem in the supply chain, even if the department was not involved,” according to Mr Y.G. Parande, Member, Central Board of Excise and Customs (Budget and Computerisation)

Mr Parande conceded that there were major problems in the migration initially but were resolved. “The system is stable but now we are looking at the performance, which needs to be improved. We are looking at where the glitch by analysing the software, hardware and network within the Customs department,” he told Business Line recently on the sidelines of Cargo Scope, a two-day international conference and exhibition organised by Shipping Times in association with the Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Electronic data interchange (EDI) is a complex system even as there has been migration and then integration is happening across all the 40 locations in the country. Earlier, each of the location were operating on a ‘silo' and taking decisions on their own.

Duty payment

However, in the recent past, the complexity has reduced even as other departments such as the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, CHAs, ports and banks have been integrated in to the system. If there is a delay in any of the departments, it will affect the entire supply chain — that's what has happened that led to delays, said Mr Parande.

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