Slashdot Mirror


Ships Turned Away As Aussie Customs' IT System Melts Down

An anonymous reader writes "Urgent shipments of medicine and goods for the holiday season have been turned away by customs officials due to a massive computer problem. The initial budget for the system upgrade was said to be A$80 million but has since blown out to A$250 million. Customs officials and the government have been forced to admit that they might actually have to revert to the old system if things don't improve. One cargo user said on national TV that he used to process 300 orders daily but the new system is so complex and unusable, he's happy if he can manage 100 orders per day. The system failure is expected to have a massive impact especially on the retail sector this Christmas."

4 of 327 comments (clear)

  1. maybe they could rent? by ChipMonk · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Isn't there a Beowulf cluster available when Peter Jackson doesn't need the cycles?

    (Hey, it's 2 favorite /. topics in one sentence. Double play!)

  2. Re:[OT] Speaking of melt downs... by iocat · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    As of 11:38PDT, I can now reach google, etc. again. Things are better now in the SF Bay area.

    --

    Dude, I think I can see my house from here.

  3. Re:[OT] Speaking of melt downs... by EnronHaliburton2004 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    The irony is that the is down, so I can't monitor much outside my own world at all.

    I blame the UN.

  4. Perhaps government should get out of the way by ivaradi · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    While the immediate problem is the computer problem, the real problem is that government interferes with such (or any kind of) shipments. First, they setup a new computer system in typical goverment fashion, i.e. the result does not work, and then they send away important shipments because otherwise they would not be able to collect the loot because of their own mistake.