SECURITY BEGINS AT HOME

The United States should put its own house in order before complaining
about the lack of security at foreign ports, according to Jim Kelly,
program manager, carrier initiative program, at the anti-smuggling division
of the U.S. Customs Service. A pilot project at the port of Jacksonville,
Fla., could begin the process.

The project, and the woeful of lack of effective security measures at a
number of U.S. facilities, was described by Kelly at the Safe Passage, Safe
Harbor conference in Washington D.C. The event was organized by the Baltic
and International Maritime Council and Marine Log.

Kelly pointed out that the U.S. advises ports in regions such as South
America on how to improve security, yet "many ports in South America have
better security than we do." He described U.S. facilities as being
"conducive to smuggling and theft."

The general lack of security is compounded by the fact that there is no
official agency responsible for this increasingly important part of the
nation's port infrastructure, he complained. "There are no federal
regulations, and no federal agency that has responsibility for our port
security," Kelly said.

The problem goes further than the physical integrity of port complexes.
According to Kelly, internal conspiracies - where personnel such as
stevedores and office staff aid and abet drug smugglers and thieves -
account for about 50 percent of the narcotics flowing through the nation's
ports.

Ports need to curtail these illicit trades, Kelly said, since criminals
tend to "make use of the path of least resistance." Facilities where
security is lax soon gain a reputation as being vulnerable to theft and
narcotics smuggling, he said.

"We are too small to solve the port security problem on our own," said
Kelly. That's one of the reasons U.S. Customs has teamed up with Jaxport
and ocean carriers that use the port to develop better security methods.

Kelly said that the aim of the project is to establish a security blueprint
for the ports industry. Partnering with users not only spreads the cost, it
also helps to ensure that the basic security standards developed are
"commerce friendly," Kelly said.

The ocean carriers Crowley and Sea-Land are involved in the project, and a
security organization, Gray's Security, is also participating. Kelly
explained that Jacksonville was selected because it is a moderately sized
port that has "decent" security measures. Also, the Florida port receives
vessels from countries such as Colombia that are regarded as high-risk for
illegal trades such as narcotics smuggling. Reinforcing the case for
Jacksonville was the willingness of the port authority to cooperate on the
project, added Kelly.About a year ago the participants began brainstorming
with the aim of compiling a wish-list of security measures. The overall
objective was to develop minimum-security standards that would "deter drug
smuggling, prevent cargo theft" and that are "cost-effective and
commerce-friendly," said Kelly.

The group covered three main security areas: physical security covering
hardware such as fencing and cameras; procedural matters that include
activities such as cargo handling; and personnel requirements such as
background checks on prospective employees.

Although the group drew on existing information sources such as federal
regulations and the U.S. Customs Service's own Carrier Initiative Program,
the brainstorming sessions shed new light on how Jaxport's security could
be improved, said Kelly. An example is an event-reporting system to ensure
that incidents are reported to a central database and the information is
made available to all port users. "Jaxport didn't have one, which means
that an incident could happen on one side of the port and no one else would
know about it," Kelly said. This made it easier for cargo thieves to steal
from one terminal and, as other carriers were unaware of the theft,
perpetrate the same crime elsewhere in the port.The process also has
promoted much more cooperation between the port and its customers, said
Kelly. While Jaxport already had security measures in place, "it would
often leave it up to the carriers to make improvements," he pointed out.
The port authority soon realized that other parties than carriers had a
stake in improving security systems, said Kelly.

He admitted that one of the project's shortcomings is that it did not
include the participation of trade unions, particularly dock workers'
representatives. Even though these organizations were invited to join they
declined to take part. "This is an issue," he said.

After developing a laundry list of measures, Kelly said the next step is to
implement them. The group is now "trying to identify who will pay for these
items," Kelly said. These are "tough questions," he said, but deciding how
to come up with the funding is an important part of the security issue. Not
only will the port authority and carriers have to find the money, U.S.
Customs may have to go to Congress for additional funds to invest in port
security, Kelly said.