U.S. Customs officers dispatched to Kobe and Nagoya for CSI
Contingents of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers will be deployed to the Japanese ports of Kobe and Nagoya on Friday to begin the full implementation of the Container Security Initiative (CSI).
CSI was developed by Customs shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Through this program, Customs officers target high risk containers in overseas ports and request that the national customs administrations screen the cargo for terrorist activity before it loads on U.S.-bound ships.
The Japanese Customs and Tariff Bureau signed onto CSI in September 2002. CSI became operational at the port of Yokohama, Japan, in March 2003, and at the port of Tokyo in May 2004.
The ports of Kobe and Nagoya are the 22nd and 23rd CSI ports to become operational.
CSI is a reciprocal program. Japan is the second CSI partner country to station its own customs personnel in U.S. ports. Japanese customs officers are stationed in Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif.