Port Security [John Kerry-election issue]

The purpose of this hearing is to investigate the security of containers used to ship goods imported into and exported out of the United States by water. The Subcommittee will receive testimony from the Administration, cargo shippers, vessel operators, as well as freight terminal owners and operators.

The United States’ maritime borders include 95,000 miles of open shoreline, 361 ports and an Exclusive Economic Zone that spans 3.5 million square miles. The United States relies on ocean transportation for 95 percent of cargo tonnage that moves in and out of the country. Each year more than 7,500 commercial vessels make approximately 51,000 port calls, and over six million loaded marine containers enter U.S. ports. Current growth predictions indicate that container cargo will quadruple in the next twenty years.

Standard sizes of cargo containers allow cargo to be quickly transferred from ships to trucks or railcars and transported immediately to anywhere in the country. This rapid transfer of cargo is a possible conduit and target for terrorist activities. Prior to September 11th, the primary focus of intermodal transportation was the safe movement of containers in a timely manner. As a result of the terrorist threat, the United States must develop a security regime that minimizes the risks and consequences of a terrorist attack without slowing the movement of cargo.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is a specialized organization within the United Nations established for the purpose of developing international maritime standards, promoting safety in shipping, and preventing marine pollution from ships. In response to the terrorist attacks, the IMO’s Assembly adopted a resolution entitled “review of measures and procedures to prevent acts of terrorism which threaten the security of passenger and crews and the safety of ships”. The various IMO Committees were directed to review, on a high priority, the instruments under their purview to determine if they need to be updated and to determine if there is a need to adopt other maritime security measures that may be appropriate.

On January 15, 2002, the United States submitted a number of proposals to the IMO Maritime Safety Committee for consideration at its meeting in May. These proposals call for a number of specific actions that the United States believes will improve maritime security worldwide. The concepts put forward by the United States to improve container security include port of origin mandatory container examinations and the establishment of international measures to improve the security of cargo movement.

The IMO Maritime Safety Committee Intersessional Working Group met in London this February to consider the United States’ maritime security proposal. At this meeting, the Group agreed to revisit a previous IMO decision to not require mandatory inspection of containers due to the increased worldwide concerns about container security. The Group also agreed to work with the World Customs Organization (WCO) to develop an international plan to secure containerized cargo. The goals of an IMO and WCO cooperative agreement would be to expand container inspections, make threat assessments, and increase cooperation between all those involved in the container transport chain. In addition, the Working Group supported the United States’ proposal to improve the exchange of information between the international maritime community.

This is a post of one of the many hearings held about our port security after 9-11.

Now why did I post this?

Recently our potential Dem candidate took shots at the President regarding port security.

John Kerry was talking about 'under this President only X% of the containers are inspected'...

First lets talk about what he was talking about, then discuss whats really been going on...and why a lot of what he states is misleading.

What Kerry wants is for each container to be opened up and somehow 'be inspected' as it gets here. That aproach is actually the wrong approach.

First off, once it gets here, its too late. Secondly the logistics and cost of such a plan would be EXTREMELY expensive and almost unworkable.

Where would the inspections he wants take place? On the boats? Are we going to have them anchor offshore and then try to open each container up at sea?

Again, if we do it at port, its too late. If it blows up, thats a big problem.

What has really happened though? The US under President Bush has negotiated with many of our trade partners for shipping security.

These agreements include Singapore, Europe, China, Hong Kong and many other countries.

What we have done is station people at ports in those countries to supervise the loading of each container. When the container is loaded, it is sealed up, and if I am not mistaken they use electronic devices to seal them up. If they are opened anywhere in transit, its known, maybe by some kind of electronic signal.

What they have also negotiated is that once a boat is loaded it cannot linger around the port. It must leave ASAP. For suppliers in places like Hong Kong, they are not able to run down to the dock the day of the shipment to drop stuff off. They have to have detailed manifests too. The old way of getting there an hour before ship-off is ended.

In other words, they get all the stuff, supervise the loading, seal it up, track it on the way across the ocean...and then just unload it once it gets here.

So while Kerry says 'only X% of the containers are inspected', he really means 'they were not inspected at our ports', not that they weren't inspected at all.

Hong Kong Port Set to Implement Container Security Initiative

Bureau of Customs and Border Protection May 5 press release

The port of Hong Kong is about to implement the Container Security Initiative (CSI) for cargo containers destined for U.S. ports, the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security announced in a press release May 5.

According to wire-service reports, Hong Kong will commence a CSI pilot scheme on May 12.

The Container Security Initiative is designed to prevent containerized shipping -- through which most internationally traded goods are shipped -- from being exploited by terrorists. With the CSI, the United States has entered into partnerships with other governments to identify "high-risk" cargo containers and pre-screen those containers for terrorist weapons at the port of departure instead of the port of arrival.

The port of Hong Kong will be joining the already operational CSI ports of Rotterdam, LeHavre, Bremerhaven, Hamburg, Antwerp, Singapore, Yokohama, Vancouver, Montreal, and Halifax.

Following is the text of the May 5 CBP press release:

05 May 2003

Hong Kong Implements the Container Security Initiative and Begins to Target and Pre-Screen Cargo Destined for U.S.

Washington, D.c. -- Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Robert C. Bonner announced today that the Container Security Initiative (CSI) will be operational at the port of Hong Kong for cargo containers destined for U.S. ports.

The port of Hong Kong joins the already operational CSI ports of Rotterdam, LeHavre, Bremerhaven, Hamburg, Antwerp, Singapore, Yokohama, Vancouver, Montreal, and Halifax.

"I applaud Hong Kong's participation in this important initiative. CSI is a critical component of the "multi-layered approach" advocated by Border and Transportation Security and the Department of Homeland Security. CSI is essential to securing global trade against terrorist exploitation. The CSI security blanket is now expanding and strengthening as it encompasses the port of Hong Kong," said Commissioner Bonner.

The port of Hong Kong is one of the world's largest. It ranks number one in the world in terms of the number of cargo containers handled. It also ranks number one in terms of the flow of containers into the U.S. Hong Kong is positioned at a key crossroad in the global trading system, with a high potential to detect items of concern. Last year, nearly 560,000 sea cargo containers entered the U.S. from the port of Hong Kong.

CBP has deployed a team of officers to be stationed at the port of Hong Kong to target sea containers destined for the United States. Hong Kong Customs officials, working with CBP officers, will be responsible for screening any containers identified as a potential terrorist risk. CSI is an initiative that was developed by U.S. Customs in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Now within the Department of Homeland Security, CBP is continuing to implement CSI at major ports around the world. Under the CSI program, CBP officers are deployed to work with host nation counterparts to target high-risk cargo containers. Its purpose is to protect containerized shipping from exploitation by terrorists. Containerized shipping is a critical component of global trade because most of the international trade moves or is transported in containers.

To date, 18 of the top 20 ports have agreed to join CSI and are at various stages of implementation. These ports are points of passage for approximately two-thirds of containers shipped to the United States. They include (by container cargo volume): Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Rotterdam, Pusan, Bremerhaven, Tokyo, Genoa, Yantian, Antwerp, Nagoya, Le Havre, Hamburg, La Spezia, Felixstowe, Algeciras, Kobe, and Yokohama.

"I am confident that all 20 of the world's major seaports will soon be participating in CSI. When that happens, CSI teams will have access to 70 percent of all the containers bound for the U.S. -- a huge step forward. Also, we will be expanding CSI to other ports that ship substantial amounts of cargo to the United States, and that have the infrastructure and technology in place to participate in the program," Commissioner Bonner said.

CSI consists of four core elements: (1) using intelligence and automated information to identify and target high-risk containers; (2) pre-screening those containers identified as high-risk, at the port of departure, before they arrive at U.S. ports; (3) using detection technology to quickly pre-screen high-risk containers; and (4) using smarter, tamper evident containers.

Each year, over 48 million full cargo containers move between the world's major seaports and more than 6 million containers arrive in the United States by ship.

Most recently, the governments of Malaysia and Sweden have joined CSI. In Europe, CBP is looking to expand CSI to at least 11 additional ports.

The CSI initiative supports the "Cooperative G8 Action on Transport Security" adopted by G8 in June 2002.

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