MOHAMMAD SUMAN and DWAIPAYAN BARUA

Major customs houses across Bangladesh, including that in Chattogram, have been facing delays in processing exports and imports for days now due to recurring slowdowns in the server that handles the records.

This has led to apprehensions of a pileup of cargo and processing backlogs at ports and inland container depots.

The customs houses use ASYCUDA World, an automated system for customs data processing, which was introduced in 2013, replacing the earlier ASYCUDA++ version.

While the system is designed to handle end-to-end online submissions, performance lags and breakdowns have become increasingly frequent.

According to customs officials, the system now functions for only 10 to 15 minutes every two hours, causing serious delays in the clearance procedures of import and export consignments.

On Thursday, the National On