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Jakarta. A new electronic data collection system for raw materials arriving by air is befuddling cargo couriers, causing long delays that drive up production costs, local manufacturers say.

According to business leaders, it can take imports two weeks to clear customs under the new system, up from two to three days under the old procedure.

Mujiono, on the import staff at Sanyo Jaya, a company that processes imported materials into electronic parts for export, said the delays had raised import costs, cutting the company’s monthly revenue by 10 to 30 percent.

The system was implemented at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Aug. 1 by the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, and is used for imports of raw materials intended for use in export-bound products.

Such imports go through customs in so-called bonded zones, from which they are then picked up by third-party couriers tax-free and delivered to export producers. The airport is Indonesia’s only bonded zone for air freight.

Previously, couriers would be asked to provide relevant information about shipments in person to customs officers, who would then clear the shipment.

Now, couriers are required to submit the information into an electronic database, which has a far more demanding list of questions.

Mujiono said couriers had been struggling to provide all the data the new program demands, and have resorted to asking exporters receiving the goods to help input data.

“This too causes losses for the exporters, because it adds to our operational burden,” he said. “When the process was done manually ... the couriers did everything needed — we only had to wait.”

M Kadrial, chairman of the Association of Indonesian Express Delivery Companies (Asperindo), also said couriers were having difficulty satisfying the new system, thereby delaying import clearance for days.

He explained that when the necessary information could not be thoroughly entered, the clearance program would remain in a pending state, resulting in long waits until the data was entered.

But Susiwijono Moegiarso, director of customs and excise information at the directorate, defended the system, saying it “will make data storage more accurate and long-lasting.”

The program has been in use at “non-express” bonded zones such as the sea ports at Tanjung Priok and Batam since 1997, and hasn’t drawn serious criticism.

However, Kadrial said clearance procedures for non-express imports are conducted by the exporters themselves, without the help of couriers.

“That’s why it’s called ‘non-express.’ Express courier services use air transportation for quicker duration, while sea transportation can take weeks,” he said.

He also said that express air transport was streamlined to handle small deliveries, usually less than 100 tons. Non-express shipping, meanwhile, often deals on a far larger scale, sometimes handling shipments in the thousands of tons.

But since the introduction of the new system, exporters have complained that even express freight has slowed to a costly crawl. To handle the pending imports, exporters are having to store them in airport warehouses, further slowing the process.

Kadrial said exporters’ operating costs had doubled due to the long waits and the cost of renting extra warehouse space.

Susiwijono acknowledged that the process was much more lenient when handled manually, because customs agents were familiar with couriers and would clear their imports quickly.

He said that the electronic program was far more “demanding” with regards to information.

Beyond the new data system, another regulation introduced concurrently with the data system has added an extra wrinkle to the clearance process.

Prior to accessing the electronic data program at a customs office, couriers must now submit a letter of appointee that clarifies the relationship between the courier company and the exporter they work for.

Such a letter had never been required previously.