CSI OPERATIONAL IN FIRST ASIAN SEAPORT

CSI OPERATIONAL IN FIRST ASIAN SEAPORT    The U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection has implemented its Container Security Initiative in the port of Singapore.
   Singapore joins other operational CSI ports in Rotterdam, Le Havre, Bremerhaven, Hamburg, and Antwerp in Europe, and Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax in Canada.
   “We are getting CSI implemented in those ports that have signed on,” said Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner. “We will continue to deploy teams to other participating ports as quickly as possible.”
   Singapore is the first operational CSI port in Asia, since the program was started by the agency early last year.
   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 advanced cargo manifest information and non-intrusive inspection equipment, U.S. Customs inspectors work with their overseas counterparts in CSI ports.
   In Singapore, Customs and Border Protection has deployed a team of five officers, who will work jointly with Singapore Customs.
   While Singapore is ranked second to Hong Kong as a transshipment port, the country is considered the world’s busiest port overall. About 80 percent of the containers handled in Singapore are transshipments. Last year, about 330,000 containers entered the United States from Singapore.
   To date, 18 of the top 20 ports have agreed to join CSI and are at various stages of implementation. They include Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Rotterdam, Pusan, Bremerhaven, Tokyo, Genoa, Yantian, Antwerp, Nagoya, Le Havre, Hamburg, La Spezia, Felixstowe, Algeciras, Kobe and Yokohama.
   “Now that we have nearly achieved our goal for CSI at most of the top 20 ports, we will be expanding CSI to other ports that ship substantial amounts of cargo to the United States, and that have the infrastructure and technology in place to participate in the program,” Bonner said.
   Most recently, the Malaysian and Swedish governments have joined CSI. In Europe, Customs and Border Protection plans to expand CSI to another 11 seaports.