There is technology available to scan all containers entering U.S. ports
- From: "Florida" <demeter547opine@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 9 Mar 2006 11:06:21 -0800
HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section:
Viewpoints, Outlook
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/3700153.html
March 3, 2006, 8:19PM
SHIPPING NEWS
The fear of freight
There is technology available to scan all containers entering U.S.
ports
By STEPHEN E. FLYNN and JAMES M. LOY
The political firestorm surrounding the takeover of five American
container terminals by Dubai Ports World, a United Arab Emirates
company, is a political distraction, but in many ways a welcome one.
Americans are finally taking port security seriously.
Ports are the on- and offramps to global markets, and they belong to a
worldwide system operated by many different private and public
entities. Since the United States cannot own and control all of that
system, we must work with our trade partners and foreign companies to
ensure its security.
A major step in that direction would be to construct a comprehensive
global container inspection system that scans the contents of every
single container destined for America's waterfront before it leaves a
port - rather than scanning just the tiny percentage we do now.
This is not a pie-in-the-sky idea. Since January 2005, every container
entering the truck gates of two of the world's busiest container
terminals, in Hong Kong, has passed through scanning and radiation
detection devices.
Images of the containers' contents are then stored on computers so that
they can be scrutinized by American or other customs authorities almost
in real time. Customs inspectors can then issue orders not to load a
container that worries them.
The Department of Homeland Security has greeted this private-sector
initiative with only tepid interest. But the Dubai deal provides an
opportunity to adopt a system like the one in Hong Kong globally.
Washington should embrace Dubai Ports World's offer to provide
additional guarantees to protect the five American terminals it wants
to run. The company should agree to install scanning and radiation
detection equipment at the entry gates of its 41 terminals in the
Middle East, Europe, Asia, North America and South America within the
next two years.
By making this commitment, the company could address head-on the
anxiety of American lawmakers, governors and port city mayors that is
fueling the uproar. The 45-day review period that has recently been
agreed upon provides the breathing room to work out the details.
Congress and the White House should appropriate the necessary funds to
allay the concerns of the severely strained Customs and Border
Protection agency, which, burdened by old and frail information
systems, may worry that it can't tap the revolutionary potential of
such a comprehensive inspection approach.
Hutchison Port Holdings, a Hong Kong-based company that is the world's
largest container terminal operator, would probably join Dubai Ports
World in putting Hong Kong-style inspection systems in place within its
42 ports. Hutchison's chief executive, John Meredith, is an outspoken
advocate for improving container security and has championed the Hong
Kong pilot program, which runs in one of its terminals.
Hutchison Port Holdings along with PSA Singapore Terminals, Dubai Ports
World and Denmark's APM Terminals handle nearly eight out of every 10
containers destined for the United States.
If they agreed to impose a common security fee of roughly $20 per
container, similar to what passengers are now used to paying when they
purchase airline tickets, they could recover the cost of installing and
operating this system worldwide. This, in turn, would furnish a
powerful deterrent for terrorists who might be tempted to convert the
ubiquitous cargo container into a poor man's missile.
There is already a bipartisan bill that the White House and Congress
could embrace to advance this effort. The GreenLane Maritime Cargo
Security bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen.
Patty Murray, D-Washington, provides incentives for American importers
to accept the modest fees associated with a global container inspection
system. The bill would also establish minimum security standards and
encourages the tracking and monitoring of containers throughout the
supply chain.
Moreover, it would create joint operations centers within American
ports to ensure that, should there be a terrorist incident or a
heightened level of threat, the ports will respond in a coordinated,
measured way that will allow the flow of commerce to resume when
appropriate.
A global regime for container security will require oversight. Congress
should require that the security plans developed by importers be
independently audited. It should also provide the Department of
Homeland Security with adequate Customs and Coast Guard inspectors to
audit these auditors.
Today Customs has only 80 inspectors to monitor the compliance of the
5,800 importers who have vowed to secure their goods as they travel
from factories to ship terminals. To assess worldwide compliance with
the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code, the Coast Guard
has just 20 inspectors - roughly the size of the average passenger
screening team at an airport security checkpoint.
Congress and the White House should step back from the brink of
political fratricide over the Dubai deal.
Certainly it is necessary and appropriate to closely examine any
transaction that involves a foreign government having an ownership
interest in critical United States assets. But the 45-day security
review will provide a chance to work through those issues.
At the end of the day, America's port security challenge is not about
who is in charge of our waterfront. The real issue is that we are
relying on commercial companies largely to police themselves. Both
Congress and the White House should embrace a framework of "trust but
verify," in President Ronald Reagan's phrase, based on real standards
and real oversight.
When it comes to the flow of goods around the planet, we need to know
what's in the box.
Stephen E. Flynn is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
and a retired Coast Guard officer. Loy is a former deputy secretary of
homeland security and commandant of the Coast Guard.
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