U.S. CUSTOMS TO BUY MORE X-RAY MACHINES FOR CONTAINERIZED CARGO

U.S. CUSTOMS TO BUY MORE X-RAY MACHINES FOR CONTAINERIZED CARGO

   U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert C. Bonner said Tuesday that the agency plans to buy 36 X-ray machines this year and about dozen more in 2003 to inspect containerized cargo at the seaports.

   The agency already has about 70 of these machines in operation, both mobile and stationary, along the Southwest border with Mexico and in some seaports.

   The new machines have the ability to scan a 40-foot container in about 90 seconds. “Once in place, these machines aren’t going to gather dust,” Bonner told executives at an American Association of Port Authority meeting in Washington Tuesday.