Port act a victory for cargo chain security

Oct 17, 2006 2:40 PM

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and the National Retail Federation (NRF) are hailing President Bush's recent signing of the Security and Accountability for Every (SAFE) Port Act as a victory for security of the cargo chain.
Congress passed the legislation on Sept. 30. It enhances the multi-layered, risk-based cargo security system the U.S. government has developed since the Sept. 11 attacks. Among other provisions, the bill establishes a $400 million annual port security grant program, codifies existing port security programs such as the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and requires the Department of Homeland Security to develop plans for resuming trade in the event of an attack on ports.
"RILA congratulates the Supply Chain Security Coalition for its successful efforts to encourage Congress to pass legislation that enhances the multi-layered, risk assessment approach currently used by the Department of Homeland Security and which has worked to keep U.S. ports safe for the last several years," RILA senior vice president Paul Kelly says.
"A key part of this measure is a strong pilot program to build a more comprehensive system for scanning cargo containers rather than jumping immediately into a 100 percent scanning mandate for foreign ports that would have snarled retail supply chains and possibly increased security problems rather than minimizing risks," NRF vice president Erik Autor says. "One hundred percent scanning is currently operationally infeasible, technically unreliable and would cause unacceptably high economic costs and disruptions to the economy while offering no real improvement to the nation's cargo security system. This pilot program will allow the reliability, effectiveness and safety of scanning technology to be thoroughly tested so that an appropriate scanning system can be established at the appropriate time."
In other cargo security news, LoJack Corp., well-known for its vehicle tracking and recovery systems, has entered the cargo security market by investing $6 million in Washington-based SC-integrity, a provider of services in the areas of cargo theft prevention, investigation, tracking and recovery. A spokesperson for LoJack says the move is part of the company's long-term strategy to expand into the cargo security market.

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