FORWARDERS are not surprised by the latest US climbdown on
controversial plans to introduce 100 per cent ocean container screening.
Peter
Quantrill, director general of the British International Freight
Association (BIFA), says it is “hardly surprising” to hear the news that
the USA has delayed – for another two years – its demand that all cargo
containers entering the USA must have been security scanned prior to
departure from their origin stations.
The decision comes amid questions over whether the total scanning scheme is the best way to protect US ports.
Five
years after Congress set a deadline requiring all US-bound shipping
containers to be X-rayed overseas for nuclear weapons, US Customs
officials now appear to have given up on the goal.
Screening
100 per cent of incoming containers would be nearly impossible to
implement now, would cause huge delays and be less cost-effective than
focusing only on suspicious cargo, observers say.
More than 30,000 ocean containers arrive at US ports each day and many foreign ports are just not physically equipped to comply.
“As
BIFA has said repeatedly, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has
consistently underestimated the enormity of the task in hand relative
to the costs both to the US government and to foreign governments as
well as, importantly, the limited ability of contemporary screening
technology to penetrate dense cargo, or large quantities of cargo in
shipping containers,” says Quantrill.
BIFA’s comments
are in response to a letter from Thomas Carper, chairman of the Senate
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which suggested
that the use of systems available to scan containers would have a
negative impact on trade capacity and the flow of cargo.
Quantrill
notes: “Media reports suggest that the US government now doubts whether
it would be able to implement the mandate of 100 per cent scanning,
even in the long term, and it would appear that it now shares BIFA’s
long-standing opinion that it is not the best use of taxpayer resources
to meet the USA’s port security and homeland security needs.
"We
have always said that expanding screening with available technology
would slow the flow of commerce and drive up costs to consumers without
bringing significant security benefits.”
BIFA says the US government should take an even bolder step – and repeal the original legislation.
“That
would be the most appropriate way to address this flawed provision and
allow the Department and industry to continue to focus on real
solutions, including strengthened risk-based management systems to
address any security gaps that remain in global supply chains.”
Source: http://www.aircargonews.net/news/single-view/news/us-postpones-100-per-cent-container-scanning.html
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