Maritime group criticizes GE for container security approach
The World Shipping Council yesterday slammed the GE Security division for trying to unilaterally develop global standards for container security devices it has developed rather than go through the industry-accepted International Standards Organization.
The council, which represents international container lines serving the U.S. market, called GE's move 'unnecessary and counterproductive' to the formation of a single uniform international container security standard that would cover electronic seals as well as container security devices.
'It is also a strange coincidence that GE would undertake this initiative just as the ISO is about to finalize its years of effort in developing a consensus international RFID (radio frequency identification) container security technology standard — a standard that differs significantly from GE's product,' the council said in a position paper distributed to journalists.
The ISO is expected to develop the maritime security RFID standards by the end of the year.
GE Security and its marketing partners, German and Japanese conglomerates Siemens AG and Mitsubishi Corp., announced last month the formation of an International Container Standards Organization (ICSO) to quickly develop common protocols and information technology requirements for using the devices and sharing data.
GE's CommerceGuard device is designed to detect unauthorized container door openings and transmit that data at transportation hubs where short-range radio frequency readers will be installed. GE's device and network operate on a radio protocol that differs from the two frequencies being considered by the ISO.
Two ports, the Port of Antwerp in Belgium, and terminals operated by the Virginia Port Authority in Norfolk, have said they plan to install a network of GE CommerceGuard readers.
GE has decided to commercialize its product even though U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which is testing the device as part of its Smart Box initiative, has not certified the technology for voluntary or mandatory use as part of any government cargo security program. The lack of government-issued requirements is pushing the consortium to define the standards itself. Starbucks, the first commercial customer for CommerceGuard, has started using the device on trade lanes from Guatemala to the United States and Europe for security and tracking purposes.
The consortium said it plans to publish its first standards by early fall, a schedule that is much faster than normal standards-setting efforts.
The member companies said they are forming their own standards-setting body rather than go through the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which covers multiple disciplines within its various working committees and is not focused on international container security. The GE-led ICSO said that the development of standards for security systems is more appropriate for a closely held forum rather than an open process such as the one at the ISO that requires broad disclosure of details that could be helpful to terrorists.
Ocean carriers have not been enthusiastic about the idea of adding active electronic security devices to containers, preferring instead a passive “read-only” electronic license plate affixed to the container for identification purposes.
'It would appear that GE is establishing the ICSO in order to bypass the extensive work product being developed by the ISO and to design an independent standard and process that it and its CommerceGuard business associates would control,' the council said.
Developing standards for a container security device is also premature because governments and industry have not settled on any clear definition of a container security device and what it should do, the council said.
It reiterated concerns that the ownership and confidentiality of data from the containers that would be in possession of the network operator rather than the marine terminal operators.
'Unlike other container security technologies, GE apparently wants to create, own and control the global data base of container readings done by its proprietary reader infrastructure,' the council said.