Expansion eyed for SFI scan trial

The United States has begun talks with the Pakistani government about expanding a demonstration program for 100 percent scanning of containers to the Port of Karachi, a Customs and Border Protection official said last week.


Rich DiNucci, director of the Secure Freight Initiative, said Pakistani officials are pleased with the pilot program at nearby Port Qasim and want to begin operations at a second port.


Qasim is one of seven ports selected by CBP at the behest of Congress to study on a limited scale the feasibility of conducting imaging and radiation detection on all containers. The agency has already submitted two reports to lawmakers about the findings of the automated inspection program at three ports with low export volumes to the United States -- Qasim, Southampton, United Kingdom; and Puerto Cortes, Honduras.


It concluded that taking X-ray type images and radiation reads of every container can be done, but is not practical across the board because of the enormous expense and logistical challenges of setting up inspection zones in ports without disrupting normal commercial cargo flows. Chief among the challenges is how to capture data on cargo that is transshipped from feeder ports to hub ports by vessel.


Without waiting for the results, Congress passed legislation last year ordering automated inspections for all containers by 2012 as Democrats criticized the Bush administration for not doing enough to plug a gapping hole in homeland security. The Department of Homeland Security is using a risk-management approach that relies on computerized analysis of international shipping data and intelligence to target containers for inspection, including at 58 foreign ports where local customs authorities have agreed to conduct selective scans at the request of on-site CBP officers.


DHS has informed Congress that based on the study it intends to conduct 100 percent scanning operations only on specific high-risk trade lanes. Pakistan and Port Karachi would fit that mold.


While many other countries view 100 percent scanning as a big impediment to trade, Pakistan embraced the Secure Freight Initiative as a way to certify exports to the United States as safe and attract buyers who would otherwise be reluctant to do business in a country known as a hotbed of terrorist activity and a haven for al Qaeda.


A second round of Secure Freight Initiative testing is about to begin at two other ports that handle larger volumes and extensive transshipment cargo. SFI is almost ready to become operational at the Port of Busan, South Korea, and Salaleh, Oman, DiNucci said during a Thursday briefing to the Commercial Operations Advisory Committee meeting in Seattle.


CBP has set up truck lanes with drive-through detection equipment and is working out some technical issues at Busan. It is preparing to use mobile equipment and wireless technology to transmit the readouts to minimize the impact of inspections on terminal operations in Salaleh, a large transshipment port, DiNucci said. Technicians are ironing out difficulties with getting the large data files transmitted back to the local command center, where radiation alarms are received and resolved.


DiNucci said technology providers are working to improve the anomaly detection and automated alarm capabilities of the non-intrusive inspection machines. Existing limitations require specialists to manually view each container image for possible contraband or hidden weapons of mass destruction.


DHS, which objected to 100 percent scanning mandates from the start, made clear in the SFI report and testimony that it intended to take advantage of out clauses in the legislation to extend the 2012 deadline, at least until better technology can be developed.


CBP officials reiterated at the COAC meeting that the SFI pilot demonstrated 100 percent scanning is possible under the right circumstances, adding that the system has not faced the challenge yet of trying to inspect containers at ports with high throughputs. Employing the tandem X-ray and radiation detection system on high-risk trade corridors is a logical way to proceed during a time of limited resources and the need to shore up vulnerabilities to other non-maritime threats, they said.


There is tremendous benefit from the pilot, which shows that we can on a limited basis do this. If we apply this to high-risk corridors, I think this will be a tremendous tool for DHS and CBP, Commissioner Ralph Basham said.