Table statistics being locked after exporting in 10g

Some unexpected activity was recently encountered while we were exporting data from a 10g version of a database into another database that was version 11g. We were moving data structures without moving the data. After doing so we were unable to analyze the tables in the target system. It turns out this is a common problem.

Table statistics get locked when exporting only the table structures with DataPump. This situation is identified as an issue that occurs with Oracle 10.2. Using DataPump data is not exported or imported if the option CONTENT = METADATA_ONLY is set.

To resolve this there are two options listed on My Oracle Support.
1. After the import unlock the statistics for tables using the command:
execute DBMS_STATS.UNLOCK_TABLE_STATS('owner','table_name');
NOTE the statistics can also be unlocked at the schema level.

2. Do not import table statistics using the option EXCLUDE=TABLE_STATISTICS.

REFERENCES

415081.1, DataPump Import Without Data Locks Table Statistics