U.S. CUSTOMS ESTABLISHES CSI AGREEMENT WITH SINGAPORE

U.S. CUSTOMS ESTABLISHES CSI AGREEMENT WITH SINGAPORE

   U.S. Customs has signed a Container Security Initiative agreement with the Singaporean government.

   Initiated by U.S. Customs in January, CSI is designed to enhance the security of global maritime shipping. About 200 million ocean containers move between the world’s top seaports, and nearly 50 percent of the value of all U.S. imports arrives by container each year.

   A core aspect of CSI involves placing Customs inspectors at foreign seaports to screen U.S.-bound containers before they’re shipped to the United States. The goal is to watch out for smuggled weapons of mass destruction or related components.

   “Because roughly 68 percent of the 5.7 million sea containers entering the U.S. annually arrive from just 20 foreign seaports, Customs is initially focusing on these ‘mega’ ports as crossroads in the global trading system,” the agency said.

   Singapore marks the first CSI pilot port in Asia. About 80 percent of the containers handled in Singapore are transshipments. Last year, about 330,000 containers entered the United States from the port of Singapore.

   Other countries involved in CSI are Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany. Customs is currently in discussions with several other countries in Europe and Asia.