Dock labor says its container seal checks help in war against terrorism
Union officials representing American dockworkers say U.S. West Coast marine terminal operators have either reduced or eliminated some of their basic security measures since the Sept. 11 2001 terrorist attacks, placing them in harms way for future strikes.
“Every day we unload thousands of containers from ships calling from virtually every point on the globe, each filled with unknown items packed by unknown people throughout the world,” testified Mike Mitre, director of coast port security for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) before the Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday.
Mitre said containers with terrorist weapons or materials threaten not only the labor on the docks but the surrounding communities where they live. “While I would like nothing better than to be able to tell (these communities) that all the stakeholders within the marine transportation system are doing everything possible to keep them safe and secure from terrorism, this may not exactly be the case,” he said.
Mitre cited the ease at which terrorists could infiltrate containers. On March 14, suicide bombers entered Israel’s Ashdod Port killing 10 dockworkers and injuring another 16.
The ILWU has tried to get the marine terminal operators to restart the practice of having dockworkers check container seals for verification and tampering when they’re unloaded from ships. Many West Coast terminal operators reduced or discontinued this practice shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“A broken seal would immediately alert the port facility that the container may have been tampered with and needs to be carefully inspected,” Mitre said. “A systematic check of container seals also provides authorities with a record as to the parties responsible for placing the seal on any container that may be the means of a terrorist act.”
Another container safety practice largely abandoned by terminal operators in the post-9/11 environment is dockworker checks of empty containers. The Coast Guard regulations do not require inspection or sealing procedures for empty containers.
“There should be little disagreement over the need for an inspection or verification protocol concerning these containers,” Mitre said. “The fact that marine terminal operators routinely conducted empty inspections in the past as a regular part of their security program to verify the absence of harmful contents and to detect or deter possible terrorist attacks only adds to the viability of this procedure.”
The ILWU urges the Coast Guard to consider creating a mandate for the inspection of empty containers. “If there was ever to be an attack from anyone using an empty container to transport and stage explosives or chemical or biological agents, this would be the ideal manner in which to accomplish it,” Mitre warned.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard are working with the shipping industry to develop so-called “smart box” technologies, such as radio frequency identification (RFID) electronic seals and tags.
The World Shipping Council, a Washington-based group that represents the international liner carrier industry, participates in International Standard Organization working groups to develop standards for RFID e-seals and tags. But Christopher Koch, president and chief executive officer of the council, told lawmakers that sophisticated seals placed on containers by shippers at the time of loading are still “not proof” against terrorist attacks.
Labor officials are concerned that these new container seal technologies will take some time to get in place globally and worry about how to prevent terrorist attacks today.
“To be sure, would-be terrorists will not wait for the passing of a technical future deadline to attack our ports; nor should port employers wait to adequately protect our port facilities from such potential attacks,” Mitre said.