Recently a sea freight LCL importer contacted us, they had registered and gained access to the Integrated Cargo System (ICS). They attempted to process their own sea freight LCL declaration themselves, it became difficult. They telephoned the Australian Border Force (ABF) office in Queensland and the ABF officer assisted the importer to process the LCL shipment in the ICS. The ABF officer stepped the importer through all of the fields of the ICS.
The importer stated that there were no concerns with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) in regards to a packing declaration. The importer did not need to be an accredited person to lodge the shipment. The entry was ready to be released except the importer made an error on the transport details field and did not know how to process a print two.
We had to ask the ABF officer in Queensland to withdraw the entry on behalf of the importer so that we could start fresh in clearing the goods.
There was no packing declaration at all; we had to request this from the supplier.
How can someone be given access to the ICS when they have never used the system, have no qualifications in customs clearance and more importantly how can the shipment be cleared by DAFF when the person is not an accredited person?
Feel free to reach out to me to let me know your thoughts.