The Malta Freeport ground to a halt for a few hours yesterday morning because two customs officers who usually process incoming goods were not at work.

Sources said there were usually two officers at the Customs section but one was on vacation and the other had reported sick.

As a result, no containers could be processed as only they were authorised to attach the seals before release of the containers for transportation.

Stevedores who spoke to Times of Malta on condition of anonymity said they could not start work until about 10am yesterday, wasting almost half a day.

They spent hours waiting for someone to tell them what was happening and at one point management closed the gates to avoid further confusion.

The situation was resolved a few hours later when the Customs Department sent a replacement officer over.

Freeport chief executive officer Aaron Farrugia said it was “unacceptable” and he would be ensuring it did not happen again as a backlog had been created.

He has been promised that the Customs Department will take action.

“It’s not a problem of the staff at the Freeport but we suffered the consequences,” he said, adding port operations had to grid to a halt because one person was on leave and another called in sick.