Customs computer problems may continue till mid-year

In October the federal government introduced the Integrated Cargo System (ICS) system that was meant to speed up the passage of imports through Customs.

But problems with the ICS gridlocked key Australian ports just weeks from Christmas.

Customs and industry have since worked together as the Industry Action Group to fix the problem but the ICS will not achieve the same level of productivity as the Compile system it replaced until mid to late this year.

Co-chair of the Industry Action Group Paul Zalai on Friday said that based on the schedule of enhancements proposed by Customs, the ICS should be "close to where we were with the Compile system by mid to late 2006.

"There has been a lot of fixes since October 12 and there have been a lot of work-arounds - basically manual processes to overcome system deficiencies," he said.

"From an industry perspective, they are getting release of cargo but it is a lot more labour intensive than what industry had under the legacy (old) system."

Opposition Customs spokesman Senator Joe Ludwig said on Friday that the ICS had been like a stake through the heart of small business.

"I find it completely outrageous that a $200 million system, delivered after years of delays, is still not operational to the standard of a legacy system that's over 20 years old," he said.

"The Compile program was invented in the 1970s - which is like the computing dark ages - yet Australian business has been forced to suffer with a new system that is not even that good."

Customs Minister Chris Ellison had touted the ICS to parliament as "the greatest reforms to occur to the Australian Customs Service since Federation".

But Senator Ludwig said it was now the subject of multi-million dollar compensation claims.

"The question of compensation also has to be considered," he said.

"We now know Senator Ellison threw the switch despite being told the software wasn't ready.

"We have seen the August Mainframe Capacity Review report that shows Customs knew the software wasn't ready."

Lawyer Andrew Hudson who is acting for the Customs Brokers and Forwarders Council of Australia said on Friday that some compensation had been paid for importers' storage costs but expected additional claims.

Comment was being sought from Customs.