New Evidence That U.S. Box Scanning Plan Won’t Work

(Lloyd’s List – Roger Hailey)

A U.S. senate committee has heard expert testimony on the technical, logistical and financial obstacles confronting Washington’s policy to implement 100% scanning of maritime containers at foreign ports by the delayed deadline of 2014.

The senate committee on commerce, science and transportation was told that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would need “significant resources for greater manpower and technology – technologies that do not currently exist – and the redesign of many ports”.

That was the message from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) commissioner Alan Bersin in written testimony to the committee. “Many ports simply do not have one area through which all the cargo passes. There are multiple points of entry and cargo is transhipped – meaning it is moved immediately from vessel to vessel within the port. These ports are not configured to put in place detection equipment or to provide space for secondary inspections. At these ports, scanning 100% of cargo with current systems is unworkable without seriously hindering the flow of shipments or redesigning the ports themselves, which would require huge capital investment,” he said. Read more here.