Posted on 03/05/2006 11:50:45 PM PST by FairOpinion
A bomb hidden in a container explodes in a Western port: that is the nightmare of police and terrorism experts, who are turning to new technology to combat the threat.
While port security is at the heart of the row in the United States over the controversial proposal to hand over control operations at key US ports to a Dubai company, a consortium of big companies is testing a system which would allow continual checks on the contents and itinerary of a container and above all establish whether it has been opened illicitly.
It involves a system of receivers installed in doors linked to a magnetic radio transmitter inside the container. The transmitter has a microprocessor which records data including the ports of departure and arrival; the cargo; and the identities of the senders and the receivers of the goods. Around three million of these giant metal boxes crisscross the oceans every day. Millions of others wait on quaysides and in warehouses around the world. Only a minuscule fraction — two to five percent, according to experts — are opened and inspected because they come from a port considered “sensitive” or a customs officer’s curiosity is aroused by what is written on the cargo manifest.
Thanks to technology known as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), the “radio label” emits information that can be read by a portable receiver in the hands of a policeman, forwarding agent or customs officer. The giant security gates at the entrance to ports will also be able to “read” the contents of ships in real time. Transmitted to data bases, the information will be accessible anywhere in the world. Simultaneous transmission by satellite may also be possible eventually, allowing containers’ movements to be monitored continuously.
Olivier Halloui, an expert in maritime security for the French security consultancy SECOPEX, noted a growing trend towards securing the transit of merchandise along every point of the journey. “It’s the technological side combined with the political will of the United States stemming from September 11. “It’s going to happen very fast because there is a lot at stake economically. The Americans were the first to decide to give customs facilities to companies which implement security measures all the way down the line,” Halloui said. “Major manufacturers have a vested interest in implementing these technologies so that their products go through customs more quickly. If they are approved, it is almost a guarantee that they will not have to go through any checks,” he added.
Kim Petersen, president of Seascure, a maritime security consultancy based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said major US importers such as the giant retailer Wal-Mart already demand that their suppliers use secure containers. “The problem is that RFID is not going to verify what happens to be in the container. If the content has been deliberately or inaccurately described in the manifest, there is nothing RFID can do about it.”
At great expense, the world’s major ports are installing giant gates to check the contents of containers using X-rays or electromagnetic rays without opening them.
But given the number of containers in circulation, without prior intelligence, tracking down a bomb would be like finding a needle in a haystack, experts say.
Related articles of what's being done now:
Cargo Container Security - U.S. Customs and Border Protection Reality
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1590562/posts
and
Fact Sheet: Securing U.S. Ports (DHS Press release: we are screening 100% of shipping containers)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1590048/posts
Put Wal*Mart in charge of shipping and the problem will be solved.
Now if Hutchison Whampoa would simply take over operation of all the ports of entry for our nation, we could save a lot of time. The People's Liberation Army would have a stranglehold on the US of A, and stuff could get to Wal-Mart a lot more efficiently. Prices would be lower, so free-market believers everywhere will enjoy the efficiencies and new freedoms that life has to offer. Right...
Wonderfully ironic and also telling.
"Seems like a good use of RFID."
You will be happy to know that the folks who get paid to figure out this stuff have not ruled out container nukes.
But, over the past 25 or so years, have accepted that "Ports and shipping modalities" are but one obvious way we could all go up in nuclear smoke.
Seems the Junk Journalists simply will not give up the Democrat Talking Points and report the FACTS. Leasing 9 out of 300 Terminals in 6 ports is NOT handing "over control operations at key US ports to a Dubai"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1590562/posts
Of course the only problem the "Facts" in your post are as much a product of imagination and fantasy as anything produced by Liberal Hollywood
Thank you for the "heads up"!
Since you put it that way...
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