The Australian Border Force (ABF) has advised industry stakeholders that key border-processing systems—including the Integrated Cargo System and traveller-movement databases—will be offline for scheduled maintenance from 8:00 pm (AEST) Friday 25 September until 12:00 noon Saturday 26 September. The notice, posted on the ABF website and circulated via the Cargo Online Lodgement System, urges freight forwarders and airlines to lodge import declarations and passenger manifests outside the outage window where possible. During the 16-hour shutdown airline check-in desks will revert to manual Advance Passenger Processing, and cargo consignments arriving by air or sea may be held until electronic clearance can resume. ABF says critical bio-security and immigration checks will continue, but travellers should expect longer queues at secondary inspection points, especially on redeye arrivals into Sydney and Melbourne. Customs brokers have welcomed the early warning but remain concerned about the timing, which overlaps with peak imports of seasonal retail stock. “Delays of just a few hours can cascade through already tight supply chains,” said Paul Zalai of the Freight & Trade Alliance. Several freight operators are planning overtime shifts on Saturday afternoon to clear backlogs once systems come back online. Business-traveller impact is likely to be moderate but could grow if the outage overruns. Corporate travel departments are advising employees with early Saturday meetings to consider arriving Friday evening to avoid potential immigration bottlenecks. ABF says the maintenance is essential to roll out enhanced cybersecurity patches following recent global border-system attacks. The agency will issue a completion advisory via its website and email alerts once full functionality is restored. Travellers and logistics providers should monitor official channels for real-time updates.
Source: Australian Border Force
