Port Security

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

BUREAU OF CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION
Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 5, 2003
030-036

Contact: Media Services
Phone: 202-927-8727

HONG KONG IMPLEMENTS THE CONTAINER SECURITY INITIATIVE AND BEGINS TO TARGET AND PRE-SCREEN CARGO DESTINED FOR U.S.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Robert C. Bonner announced today that the Container Security Initiative (CSI) will be operational at the port of Hong Kong for cargo containers destined for U.S. ports.

The port of Hong Kong joins the already operational CSI ports of Rotterdam, LeHavre, Bremerhaven, Hamburg, Antwerp, Singapore, Yokohama, Vancouver, Montreal, and Halifax.

"I applaud Hong Kong's participation in this important initiative. CSI is a critical component of the 'multi-layered approach' advocated by Border and Transportation Security and the Department of Homeland Security. CSI is essential to securing global trade against terrorist exploitation. The CSI security blanket is now expanding and strengthening as it encompasses the port of Hong Kong, " said Commissioner Bonner.

The port of Hong Kong is one of the world's largest. It ranks number one in the world in terms of the number of cargo containers handled. It also ranks number one in terms of the flow of containers into the U.S. Hong Kong is positioned at a key crossroad in the global trading system, with a high potential to detect items of concern. Last year, nearly 560,000 sea cargo containers entered the U.S. from the port of Hong Kong.

CBP has deployed a team of officers to be stationed at the port of Hong Kong to target sea containers destined for the United States. Hong Kong Customs officials, working with CBP officers, will be responsible for screening any containers identified as a potential terrorist risk.

CSI is an initiative that was developed by U.S. Customs in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Now within the Department of Homeland Security, CBP is continuing to implement CSI at major ports around the world. Under the CSI program, CBP officers are deployed to work with host nation counterparts to target high-risk cargo containers. Its purpose is to protect containerized shipping from exploitation by terrorists. Containerized shipping is a critical component of global trade because most of the international trade moves or is transported in containers.

To date, 18 of the top 20 ports have agreed to join CSI and are at various stages of implementation. These ports are points of passage for approximately two-thirds of containers shipped to the United States. They include (by container cargo volume): Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Rotterdam, Pusan, Bremerhaven, Tokyo, Genoa, Yantian, Antwerp, Nagoya, Le Havre, Hamburg, La Spezia, Felixstowe, Algeciras, Kobe, and Yokohama.

"I am confident that all 20 of the world's major seaports will soon be participating in CSI. When that happens, CSI teams will have access to 70 percent of all the containers bound for the U.S. - a huge step forward. Also, we will be expanding CSI to other ports that ship substantial amounts of cargo to the United States, and that have the infrastructure and technology in place to participate in the program," Commissioner Bonner said.

CSI consists of four core elements: (1) using intelligence and automated information to identify and target high-risk containers; (2) pre-screening those containers identified as high-risk, at the port of departure, before they arrive at U.S. ports; (3) using detection technology to quickly pre-screen high-risk containers; and (4) using smarter, tamper evident containers.

Each year, over 48 million full cargo containers move between the world's major seaports and more than 6 million containers arrive in the United States by ship.

Most recently, the governments of Malaysia and Sweden have joined CSI. In Europe, CBP is looking to expand CSI to at least 11 additional ports.

The CSI initiative supports the "Cooperative G8 Action on Transport Security" adopted by G8 in June 2002.

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