Port Security Card Delayed
A much-touted security card that requires port workers and truckers to prove they are not illegal immigrants, terrorists or criminals was supposed to be in place by the end of last year. But a number of technological and bureaucratic hurdles has pushed back the card’s launch date to more than a year away.
“It was supposed to be implemented in March, then pushed off to July and now to some future unknown date,” said Cliff Katab, executive vice president of business development at Performance Team, a trucking and logistics company that works with a number of retailers and manufacturers in the Los Angeles area.
The delay has created an air of uncertainty for many longshore workers and truckers picking up cargo at the ports. They don’t know if they will be out of a job once the extensive criminal background check and legal-residencystatus requirements have been made for the Transportation Workers Identification Credential (TWIC) card.
But in some ways, the delay spells good news for many shippers and importers who rely on independent truckers to haul goods in and out of the local ports. Several experts estimate that 15 percent to 40 percent of the drivers who own their rigs are illegal immigrants and won’t qualify for a credential. The result could be a shortage of truckers, leading to a back-up of goods on the docks.
The uncertainty surrounding the launch date has given the industry plenty of time to get its house in order.
After hearing about the TWIC card proposal last year, Brian Griley, president of Southern Counties Express Inc. in Rancho Dominguez, Calif., decided he would double-check the Social Security numbers of his independent truckers. He found four out of 100 trucking companies had several people using the same Social Security numbers. Two no longer work for his company. The other two cleared up the discrepancy.
“For our company, I don’t see a huge impact from TWIC,” he said. “But I can tell you there are a lot of carriers, particularly small carriers, that probably don’t have much of a safety or security department. The port estimates there are 1,400 companies and 14,000 to 16,000 drivers servicing the ports. That means there are a lot of companies with only 10 or so truckers. I think that is where you are going to see the whole bottom of the market check out.”
What concerns many is that the TWIC card gets implemented between August and October next year, prime shipping season for holiday goods to hit the docks. Some kind of government timeline would be helpful.
“I think they’re laying low on what they are going to do,” said Port of Long Beach spokesperson Art Wong.
Slow go
Port security became a top issue after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 mandated that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the U.S. Coast Guard set up an identification-card system required for every person who goes into the secure areas of a port, which means anywhere beyond the terminal gates.
Workers must undergo a criminal-background check to ascertain whether they have been arrested or charged with any crimes within the last seven years or have been jailed in the last five years. All TWIC cardholders must be U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents.
The biometric cards, which will cost $137.25 apiece, will have the worker’s photo and contain his or her 10 fingerprints. The cards will be swiped through a sophisticated biometric reader that still hasn’t been chosen. Until then, the tamper-proof cards will be read by authorized personnel.
The government estimates it will have to issue cards to at least 750,000 workers across the country over the next 18 months. The goal is to have the TWIC card fully operational by the end of 2008 or the beginning of 2009.
The first port in line for worker enrollment is the small port of Wilmington, Del., where 5,542 workers this fall will apply for their card, said Darrin Kayser, a TSA spokesperson.
No schedule has been set yet for processing TWIC cards for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and no one is sure exactly how many people will have to be processed. It could be more than 36,000, with 10,000 full-time longshore workers at the ports, 10,000 casual or part-time longshore workers, and 16,000 truckers.
In January, the Lockheed Martin Corp. of Bethesda, Md., the country’s No. 1 defense contractor, was awarded a $70 million contract to help process TWIC applicants.
Lockheed has been working with the two local Los Angeles County ports to identify convenient locations in San Pedro and Long Beach where workers can fill out applications. But still no one knows when the application process will begin.
“We thought earlier that maybe we would see some enrollment starting by now,” said George Cummings, the director of homeland security for the Port of Los Angeles, who has been working with Lockheed. “That isn’t even ready to start.”
Even if all the workers are enrolled in the program, the government has not decided what kind of biometric card system will be used.
“They have been working on this for six years,” said one port official who asked not to be identified. “And they still cannot agree on the technology that would make this work.”
Disqualifying crimes for Transportation Workers ID Credentials:ExtortionIdentity fraudMoney launderingBriberySmugglingImmigration violationSelling drugsArsonKidnappingRapeRobberyAssault with intent to killFraudulent entry into a seaportUnlawful possession of a firearm
