Here are some amazing statistics: Each year over 200 million cargo containers move among the world’s top seaports; among goods imported by America, nearly 50 percent arrive inside sea containers.

With much of international commerce literally riding the high seas in steel boxes, US Customs decided last year to launch the Container Security Initiative (CSI) to prevent global containerized cargo from being exploited by terrorists. The initiative is designed to enhance security of the sea cargo containers.

One of the core elements of CSI involves placing US Customs inspectors at major foreign seaports to pre-screen cargo containers before they are shipped to America. US Customs officials, working with their foreign counterparts, will be in a position to detect potential weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in US-bound containers at these foreign ports.

Now, however, the European Union believes the presence of US Customs officials serving to implement CSI in the ports of member states will give the United States an undo trade advantage. As a result, the EU is sanctioning European ports that have signed on to the initiative.

The EU move has widened the already deep schism between the two trade blocks.

Sea-borne trade is central not just to American commerce but to the entire global economy:

· Approximately 90 percent of the world’s cargo moves by container.

· The volume of trade moving through America‚s 102 seaports has nearly doubled since 1995.

· In 2001, US Customs processed more than 214,000 vessels and 5.7 million sea containers.

· Globally, over 48 million full cargo containers move between major seaports each year.

· Each year, more than 16 million containers arrive in the United States by ship, truck and rail.

· US Customs processed 25 million entries in 2001.

· More than $1.2 trillion in imported goods passed through the nation’s 301 ports of entry in 2001. Almost half of the incoming US trade (by value) arrives by ship.

Since nearly 70 percent of all US-bound sea containers pass through 20 major seaports around the globe, the new US Customs security initiative will initially focus on these ports.

Ranked by total exports to the US, these 20 ports are: Hong Kong, Kaohsiung and Shanghai, China; Singapore; Rotterdam, Netherlands; Pusan, the Republic of Korea; Bremerhaven, Germany; Tokyo, Japan; Genoa, Italy; Yantian, China; Antwerp, Belgium; Nagoya, Japan; Le Havre, France; Hamburg, Germany; La Spezia, Italy; Felixstowe, United Kingdom; Algeciras, Spain; Kobe and Yokahama Japan; and Laem Chabang, Thailand.

Eleven of these seaports — representing over two-thirds of all of the containers shipped to US seaports — have joined CSI.

The top 10 US ports receiving these foreign goods — also ranked by annual volume — are: New York, Los Angeles, Long Beach, California; Charleston, South Carolina; Seattle, Washington; Norfolk, Virginia; Houston, Texas; Oakland, California; Savannah, Georgia; and Miami, Florida.

The Container Security Initiative consists of four core elements. These are: (1) using automated information to identify and target high-risk containers; (2) pre-screening those containers identified as high-risk before they arrive at US ports; (3) using detection technology to quickly pre-screen high-risk containers; and (4) using smarter, tamper proof containers.

The initial objective is to implement CSI at the ports and governments that send large volumes of cargo containers into the United States, in a way that will facilitate detection of potential security concerns at their earliest possible opportunity.

"CSI is a program to enhance significantly the security of the world’s maritime trading system," says a recent press release from the US Customs Service. "By working together, we can jointly achieve far greater security for maritime shipping than by working independently."

According to Customs officials, a critical element in the success of this program will be the availability of advance information to perform sophisticated targeting using risk management principles.

These officials say that after CSI is implemented at the top 20 exporting ports to the United States, the program will be expanded to other strategic ports that ship significant volumes of cargo containers to America. The principles of CSI, however, can be applied beyond CSI ports to all ports regardless of size or volume of cargo container shipped to the US.

On June 28, 2002, the World Customs Organization (WCO) unanimously passed a resolution that will enable ports in all 161 of the member nations to begin to develop programs using CSI principles, including collection of data concerning both outbound shipments in electronic form, use of risk management to identify and target high risk shipments, use of radiation detection and large-scale technology to identify containers that pose a security threat.

Within months of the WCO decision, 11 overseas ports have signed on to CSI: Halifax, Montreal and Vancover, Canada; Singapore; Rotterdam; Antwerp, Belgium; Le Have, France; the German ports of Bremerhaven and Hamburg; Hong Kong; and the Japanese ports of Yokahama, Tokyo, Kobe, and Nagoya.

However, EU has now sanctioned four member states for agreeing to the terms of CSI, saying the initiative opens the door to abusive tariff practices by the United States.

"It is regrettable that at a time of heightened concern for potential terrorist activity, the European Commission has chosen to take action against its member states for participating in the CSI," says Robert C.

Bonner, commissioner of the US Customs Service. "CSI is the only formal program in operation today that is designed to both detect and deter terrorists from exploiting the vulnerabilities of containerized cargo. This is an issue of national security. These member states have undertaken this initiative to help protect the global trading system from acts of terrorism.

"The US Customs Service is sensitive to the European Commission’s concerns that CSI may cause some trade distortions," Bonner adds. "There is no evidence, however, that CSI has caused any trade distortions."

Send questions and comments to: strategicpolicy@juno.com.

Arab News Features 2 January 2003