JAPAN IMPLEMENTS CSI IN YOKOHAMA, SENDS OFFICERS TO LA-LONG BEACH

JAPAN IMPLEMENTS CSI IN YOKOHAMA, SENDS OFFICERS TO LA-LONG BEACH    The Japanese Customs and Tariff Bureau has implemented a U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection-designed container security program in the port of Yokohama.
   Japan agreed to join the U.S. Container Security Initiative on Sept. 26. Yokohama is the 10th international container port to become CSI operational, and the second port in Asia, following Singapore.
   Other Japanese ports slated for CSI roll out in the next several months are Tokyo, Nagoya and Kobe.
   Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner initiated CSI early last year as a way to help prevent terrorists from using the container supply chain to conduct future attacks against the United States.
   CSI requires Customs and Border Protection to complete bilateral agreements with other governments to target and pre-screen high-risk containers in overseas seaports before they are shipped to the United States. Armed with advance cargo manifest information and non-intrusive inspection equipment, Customs and Border Protection inspectors work with their overseas counterparts in CSI ports.
   Customs and Border Protection has deployed a team of four officers to Yokohama. “Japanese Customs officials, working with CBP officers, will be responsible for screening any containers identified as a potential terrorist risk,” the agency said.
   Japanese Customs also plans to station its own officers in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif. on April 7 to similarly target high-risk containers destined to Japan.
   “CBP offers CSI-participating countries the opportunity to send their customs officers to our major ports to target cargo that is exported to their country via ocean containers,” Bonner said.
   “CBP will also share its intelligence and pre-arrival information on a bilateral basis with its CSI partners,” he said. “Sharing of information is intended to be a reciprocal process.”