US set to extend mandatory container scanning deadline again
Senators also want to change scanning method
New US proposals could extend the deadline for the controversial 100% scanning of containers at foreign ports of loading, and give terminals a choice of screening types.
The 2010 Maritime Transportation Security Act would extend the deadline for mandatory scanning of all US-bound containers from 2014 to 2015.
Crucially, it would also allow containers to be examined using non-intrusive imaging or radiation detection, rather than both.
It was proposed by Democrat Senator John Rockefeller, Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, also a member of the committee.
Meanwhile, US Senators Susan Collins, Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Patty Murray, introduced a bill that would favour a risk-based approach.
This bill would eliminate the deadline for x-raying 100% of containers if the Secretary of Homeland Security certified the effectiveness of individual security measures.
The two senators said the technology needed to x-ray 100% of containers had yet to be perfected.
The widely criticised scanning requirement has already been delayed by two years – it was supposed to be implemented by 2012.
US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said senior DHS and Customs and Border Protection officials had acknowledged that few foreign ports would be able to meet the July 2012 deadline.
The law will require any container bound for the US to be scanned for conventional – as well as radioactive – threats before being loaded onto a vessel at a foreign port.
It has been criticised because its implementation would need to be paid for by non-US ports and because the process could cause disruption to the supply chain.
The 2010 Maritime Transportation Security Act would extend the deadline for mandatory scanning of all US-bound containers from 2014 to 2015.
Crucially, it would also allow containers to be examined using non-intrusive imaging or radiation detection, rather than both.
It was proposed by Democrat Senator John Rockefeller, Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, also a member of the committee.
Meanwhile, US Senators Susan Collins, Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Patty Murray, introduced a bill that would favour a risk-based approach.
This bill would eliminate the deadline for x-raying 100% of containers if the Secretary of Homeland Security certified the effectiveness of individual security measures.
The two senators said the technology needed to x-ray 100% of containers had yet to be perfected.
The widely criticised scanning requirement has already been delayed by two years – it was supposed to be implemented by 2012.
US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said senior DHS and Customs and Border Protection officials had acknowledged that few foreign ports would be able to meet the July 2012 deadline.
The law will require any container bound for the US to be scanned for conventional – as well as radioactive – threats before being loaded onto a vessel at a foreign port.
It has been criticised because its implementation would need to be paid for by non-US ports and because the process could cause disruption to the supply chain.
Click here to email the editor and comment on this story
Receive our FREE news email bulletin click here
