As no customs clearance could be obtained, this led to missed flight connections and delivery delays for importers and exporters
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AlexLMX
An outage in customs department’s Express Cargo Clearance System (ECCS) since Thursday evening has disrupted international courier shipments from major airports across the country.Courier companies use the ECCS to file details such as bill of entry or shipping bill to obtain custom department clearance for imports and exports respectively. Details about consignor, consignee and product description are submitted through the online platform.The outage, second in this month, was reported on Thursday evening. As no customs clearance could be obtained, this led to missed flight connections and delivery delays for importers and exporters.On an average airports handle around 40,000 international courier shipments daily including both exports and imports.Following industry complaints, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs on Saturday instructed all the field units to switch to manual mode.“In order to ensure continuity of trade and to avoid disruption in movement of time sensitive consignments, all field formations are instructed to follow manual processing and clearance till ECCS becomes functional,” CBIC wrote to customs department commissioners across the country.“While there will be delays, the department has taken effective step to keep goods and shipments moving,” said Express Industry Council of India CEO Vijay Kumar. Published on May 30, 2026
