Terror fears spark Asian port checks

Singapore's port will allow U.S. customs officials to inspect U.S.-bound containers

HONG KONG, China -- The threat of a terrorist bomb loaded from ship container to truck then exploding in the heart of a American city is driving moves by U.S. customs officials to inspect containers in Asian ports.

On Thursday representatives of U.S. and Hong Kong customs, security, trade and marine officials met to discuss how to improve security at one of the world's busiest ports.

The talks, headed here by Commissioner of Customs and Excise Raymond Wong, are part of a worldwide effort by the United States to ensure that the tools of terrorism are not smuggled into U.S. ports in sealed containers.

"Hong Kong's cooperation is essential to this campaign," U.S. Consul General Michael Klosson said during a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce.

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"The international community has a pretty good handle on goods and people moving by air. I don't think the same applies to people and goods moving by sea," the Associated Press quoted him as saying.

Hong Kong's container terminals are among the busiest in the world and are the biggest port-of-origin for U.S. bound shipping, sending about 1.6 million containers each year.

After the September 11 attacks, Canada agreed to allow the U.S. Customs Service to inspect America-bound cargo containers at three seaports. On Tuesday, customs officials announced a similar agreement with Singapore.

Washington considers such measures to be crucial for improving the security of cargo entering U.S. seaports.

Weapons of mass destruction

The concern is that terrorists could brings weapons or explosives into the country through one of the 361 sea and river ports in the United States, which handle 95 percent of all U.S. international trade.

After arriving in the United States, containers often are placed on trucks or trains and pass through highly populated areas, where an explosion could cause massive damage or casualties.

"No port wants to be a port with a weapon of mass destruction going through it," Klosson said. "Legitimate trade doesn't want weapons of mass destruction in containers."

A Hong Kong customs spokeswoman, requesting customary anonymity, said officials here wanted to gather more information about the container security initiative from the U.S. side. She said no further information was immediately available.

Washington does not expect to be able to inspect all U.S.-bound containers, but to work with 20 "mega-ports" to better target which containers need inspection, Klosson said.

Two percent currently checked

U.S. Customs officials said they have developed an automated system to weed out suspicious packages that deserve a closer look. The system uses background on shippers and other tools to identify suspicious cargo.

The Coast Guard could deny entry to vessels from foreign ports with inadequate security and dispatch "sea marshals" to respond to terrorists under a bill passed by the House of Representatives seeking to reduce the vulnerability of U.S. ports to terrorist attacks.

The government must do more to protect "the nation's largest and perhaps most vulnerable border," Republican Rep. Frank LoBiondo, chairman of the Transportation Committee's Coast Guard panel, said Tuesday.

Customs and law enforcement officials currently check only about two percent of the containers arriving at the nation's 361 ports, and after the September 11 attacks concerns grew that terrorists might resort to such tactics as ramming a hijacked tanker loaded with oil or explosives into a major American port city.

Under the legislation, passed Tuesday by voice, the Coast Guard must conduct vulnerability assessments of U.S. ports as part of an effort to draw up a national anti-terrorism plan.

Singapore on board

The Customs Service on Tuesday announced an agreement with Singapore under which it will inspect America-bound cargo containers in Singapore's seaport.

Singapore, one of the busiest ports in the world, last year was the point of departure for some 330,000 cargo containers entering the United States.

In an interview with The Associated Press last week, Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner said he hopes to have similar arrangements worked out in the months ahead with other countries, possibly including Japan, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

With roughly six million cargo containers entering U.S. seaports each year, Bonner said it is critically important to ensure that terrorists don't use the containers to smuggle themselves or their weapons into the country.