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System can scan 100 percent of seagoing containers for security threats
(Daily Press (Newport News, VA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Mar. 29--NORFOLK, Va. -- A port terminal in Hong Kong scans 100 percent of incoming containers while trucks drive through the scanners, an official with the company that makes the systems told the Virginia Port Authority board of commissioners Tuesday.
More than 300 trucks an hour, moving at 10 mph, are scanned by both image readers and radiation scanners, said Terry G. Gibson, a vice president with San Diego-based Science Applications International Corp.
"The trucks can operate at full speeds well, at terminal speeds," Gibson said. Also, he said, the systems don't subject truck drivers to harmful radiation. It's the kind of system that, if implemented nationally, could increase cargo-scanning rates from the much-criticized 5 percent figure.
It's also in line with recent calls from Virginia Port Authority executive director J. Robert Bray and U.S. Rep. Robert C. Scott, D-Newport News.
Both men made headlines recently when they contended that the technology now exists to scan 100 percent of imported containers with both gamma ray machines and radiation detectors without creating mass delays at port facilities.
The SAIC system in Hong Kong was also praised Tuesday by Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., during a Homeland Security subcommittee hearing in the Senate.
Buying the scanners also would depend on whether the customs service agrees to buy it. The price is still unclear. A spokesman declined to say what the service thinks of SAIC's system.
"We're aware of the system," said John Mohan, a customs service spokesman. "Obviously, we like to learn as much as we can about things, and when we hear people remark that they're impressed by it, we're going to pay attention. But we don't speak about individual products."
Buying such systems at the nation's ports likely would require multi-billion-dollar allocations from Congress. But a local port security expert lamented at the board meeting that Congress has already moved on from port security issues after a government-owned firm in the United Arab Emirates backed out of its plans to operate terminals at six U.S. ports.
"The interest has plummeted since Dubai Ports World announced its divestment," said Capt. Joseph Bouchard, the former commanding officer of Naval Station Norfolk who now serves as a port security consultant at Hampton-based Zel Technologies. "Immigration reform, the war in Iraq port security has fallen off the agenda."
That's unfortunate, he said. Though he never considered the DP World deal a threat to U.S. port security, Bouchard thought the interest that lawmakers suddenly demonstrated in port security boded well for Congress to finally devote more money to fix vulnerabilities that some experts believe might allow terrorists or their weapons into this country.
At U.S. terminals now, 5 percent of cargo gets scanned with both such readers, though federal officials are quick to point out that it has computerized systems to decide which containers are risky and should be tested.
In Hampton Roads, about 5 percent or so get the gamma ray image readers while more than 90 percent of containers get tested for radiation. A gamma ray machine similar to a giant X-ray machine is a density reader that creates an image of what's inside a container. A radiation detector measures the level of radiation that a container emits.
Many experts have accused the federal government of draggin its feet on other security initiatives.
The Transportation Worker Identification Credential system, or TWIC, is already well past its original federal deadline for implementation, said Virginia Port Authority security director Ed Merkle.
That system which incorporates biometrics, such as fingerprinting, and background checks for all port workers is still developing.
Electronic seals for containers, among other systems, could also use more funding, experts contend.
Also at Tuesday's board meeting:
--The VPA board announced that it would look into other office space in the Norfolk area before committing to construct a new building for Virginia International Terminals and Hampton Roads Maritime Association workers on Terminal Avenue, outside Norfolk International Terminals.
That facility would replace old warehouses at NIT now being used as offices by VIT and would allow Hampton Roads Maritime Association workers to move into the new facility. The VPA wants to create more space at the terminal and reduce the number of cars needing access to the site.
--Break-bulk traffic cargo not carried on containers is now on the up-tick after some past declines. Lydall Paper will be importing more paper through Newport News, to supply newspapers in Roanoke and Fayetteville, N.C.
--Rail cargo makes up a quarter of the traffic flow through the state-owned facilities, up from 20 percent a few years ago. Rail traffic is up 15.3 percent for the first eight months of the year, port officials said.
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