Security Bill Mandates All Overseas Cargo Containers Be Scanned
President Bush is expected to sign a bill that would require all air and sea cargo to be scanned before it leaves foreign ports for the United States.
The bill was passed by the House of Representatives on a 371–40 vote on July 27 as a way to tighten security following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Senate passed the measure on an 85–8 vote on July 26. The bill, which includes federal security funding to states with high-risk factors, was sent to President Bush on July 28 for his approval.
Retailers and apparel importers have been opposed to the rules requiring 100 percent radiation scanning of cargo containers leaving 600 sea ports around the world. The plan is to be phased in over five years, but the secretary of Homeland Security can extend that deadline in twoyear increments if ports have difficulty implementing a scanning schedule.
In addition, there is a three-year plan to scan all air cargo loaded on passenger planes.
“They’re delusional,” said Daniel Barcenas, head of production logistics and compliance for Fortune Fashions Industries, a Los Angeles–area company that makes T-shirts in Asia and Latin America and imports denim fabric from Italy for its premium-denim blue jeans.
“Unfortunately, they are playing politics rather than focusing on what is really viable,” said attorney Brenda Jacobs, outside counsel for the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel in New York. “Scanning means they are taking an image. Whether that image gets viewed is the next question.”
Jacobs wondered if ports will have enough workers to view the thousands of photos that will be snapped every day. Importers emphasize that the scanning requirement will add days and dollars to the shipping process.
Shipping and customs experts question whether scanning on the other side of the logistics trail is the solution. “While we all stand for national security and to secure our borders, it would be very difficult at this point to examine all the cargo that comes into the country prior to its arrival,” said Robert Krieger, president of Krieger Worldwide, a Los Angeles freight forwarder and customs broker. “More cargo needs to be screened at both ends.”
Importers note that radiation scanners are expensive machines that only the bigger ports around the world may be able to afford right away.
“This will push us to use the bigger ports, like Shanghai, because the smaller ports won’t have the money to comply or the necessary traffic to do it,” Barcenas said.
While importers are concerned about time, money and efficiency, the bill was supported by the AFL-CIO, whose union workers at the ports are at risk if a nuclear device or dirty bomb explodes inside a cargo container. —Deborah Belgum
