Working bugs out of AMS. (U.S. Customs Service, Automated Manifest System)

Working Bugs Out of AMS

The U.S. Customs Service is seeking ways to eliminate the bugs from its Automated Manifest System but the agency's top official in San Francisco, who is spearheading the effort, said the task could meet some difficulty in the political arena.

AMS, part of Customs' Automated Commercial Systems, enables shipping lines and non-vessel-operating common carriers to file their cargo manifests electronically with the agency.

While Customs has for the past several months taken a close look at the problems that have "plagued" the three-year-old AMS, the situation takes on added urgency because Customs is about to expand the system to the air-cargo side, commented Paul Andrews, director of Customs' San Francisco district.

What is more, he said, efforts to effect certain fixes …