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Published Ferry News, London, UK  2/26/2006

The controversy being generated by the media and amplified by the politicians and other talking heads in addition to creating a panic where there is little or no reason is also casting a shadow on two of our oldest and I assert are the most effective “first lines of defense”. Not only that; but I will also state that they approach private industry when it comes to efficiency in dealing with the mountainous task of dealing with risks of containerized cargo at the ports and assuring that the tariffs and the laws of the other agencies of government are followed.

International logistics is an extremely complex industry and the maritime portion of that industry has been in place and continuously refined by business and national administrations for thousands of years. Before biblical times vessel captains met at one port or other and asked what the “Custom” or tariff for bringing trade goods to such and such a port. I suspect they also would ask what hazards exist and how best to deal with them. That would include natural ones such as reefs as well as pirates or rogue governmental administrations.

The first conferences dealing with terrorism were most likely conducted by vessel captains; today they and the vessel operating companies are still dealing with the same issues except that the terrorists are more sophisticated now. I suspect that a large reason there have been few terrorist activities involving commercial shipping is because of their efforts pushed by the commercial needs over these thousands of years.

With this in mind, it is clear that for a vessel carrier to place a ship and her cargo in the hands of anything less than a reliable stevedoring company, to dock the vessel, unload the cargo and safeguard it until it is in the hands of the customer would be suicide and every means available legal or shadowy would be employed to determine the risks.

In the United States, the Customs Service has a basic set of security and manifesting requirements in order to land at a port but also has a more stringent set of vetting procedures for vessels that regularly arrive and want to be able to unload the freight expeditiously. They must continually demonstrate that they have extraordinary procedures for security in place and submit to detailed background investigations and records verification. This allows Customs to focus on the areas with more risk.

This same philosophy is also carried forward in deciding what containers, that are arriving at the ports, require on sight examinations at the pier or in secure Customs facilities. Companies that ship goods on a regular basis can submit to similar ongoing background and commercial investigations and evaluations to secure more expeditious processing and entry of their goods into the U.S.

In the case of each container being shipped to the U.S. the vessel carrier is required to furnish an electronic copy of a manifest of containers and contents in advance of loading to afford Customs the opportunity to determine any risks and begin the process of evaluating the shipments to determine what examinations are required and to what extent.

Details of the above descriptions are available for all to see on the Customs Web Site.

In the current situation, the purchase is not a “port” and does not manage the operations of a “port”. It constitutes stevedoring terminals with which steamship companies contract to unlade the ships. In most ports there are many terminals or stevedoring companies. Even in a smaller port such as Brownsville, Texas (Where I live) there are three stevedores that lease space from the Port authorities.

In illustration, the “sold” P&O Terminals in New Jersey are in Port Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey. There are several other terminals and some are larger such as Maher Terminal just down the street. The facility in question supplies stevedoring services to a number of vessel Carriers.

The port is Operated and Managed by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey not any Terminal.

In order to remain in business the stevedoring companies must maintain security and processing functions in a way specified by Customs and the U.S. Coast Guard. These requirements are continually reviewed and updated and the terminals are reviewed continually to assure that they are in compliance.

Perhaps as a check on all of this, might be the longshoremen who work day after day on the piers and can sense things in their world. In my experience they are fiercely patriotic and have demonstrated imaginative abilities to confront the enemies. Perhaps it might be remembered that they refused to discharge cargo from ships belonging to our enemies in the past and I am told it is not unknown that the fact that a certain situation “Just don’t look right” finds its way to a Customs officer from time to time.

As I mentioned earlier, Customs receives freight manifests prior to departure from the foreign port and has plenty of time to assess any risk as to security or violation of the law. Based on that assessment the extent of actual examination of freight and containers is ordered and highly trained and very well supported officers conduct the exams to the extent they feel appropriate either at the terminal or government facilities.

Customs and Coastguard exercise ultimate control as to who has access to the freight and conveyances. Bonds and Licenses are withdrawn if compliance is not maintained.

I submit that the issue has been mischaracterized and overblown and does not constitute government wide heartburn. Issues that are in fact valid however are related to overall policy rather than approval of a single sale of several terminals that may not constitute even a majority of the freight in the ports.

Far more worth while would be to focus on the issue of which businesses operating in the United States should be restricted to the ownership of United States Citizens such as news and opinion media that tell us what is happening and based on how that news is presented what to think about it or the companies that unload sealed containers from ships, open them in the presence of Customs, maintain them in secure conditions and deliver them sealed to the owner.

I am a retired Customs Manager (30+ years gov’t service), former Shipping Company Owner, Local Columnist and currently a part time consultant in the logistics field.

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