International shippers criticize scan-all law

International shippers criticize scan-all law    An umbrella organization of international shippers expressed disappointment Thursday with a new U.S. law that requires scanning of all cargo onboard passenger planes within three years and all ocean containers at foreign ports within five years.
   The Global Shippers Forum said the measures, included in a bill implementing the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations on homeland security, would harm trade.
   Nicolette van der Jagt, secretary general of the European Shippers' Council (ESC) said, “Business will be paying the lion's share of providing the equipment, but I suspect the biggest cost to shippers will be the costs of delays: we already have the prospect of worsening congestion in many of the world's container ports as volumes grow year on year. One can only imagine the huge queues that will form when every container has to run through radiation and image scanners. We regret that the U.S. has acted unilaterally and did not await the results of the pilot actions the EU and U.S. customs are about to launch before pressing ahead with this piece of legislation.”
   CBP and the European Union will soon begin a demonstration program at the Port of Southampton in the United Kingdom to test the integrated scanning and radiation detection technology at inbound truck gates.
   John Lu, chairman of the Asian Shippers' Council said: 'Being the main exporter to the U.S., Asia will be the hardest hit. The enforcement of this ruling will slow down cargo and cause a gridlock at ports and airports. Shippers are likely to bear the brunt of increased costs as carriers exploit their position of strength over shippers in this region of the world.'
   Peter Gatti, executive vice president of the Arlington, Va.-based National Industrial Transportation League, said the “scan-all container amendment contradicts many of the goals and objectives of the 9/11 Commission and would divert vital funding from other programs that in combination to ‘screening’ and ‘scanning’ have proven effective in thwarting attacks on seaborne commerce.
   “This legislation represents a very worrying development that could have disastrous consequences for trade between the United States and its major trading partners. Currently, there is no scanner that we know about that can do the job the law demands.
   “We also have serious doubts whether all the identified ports which handle containers bound for the U.S. will be able to have the scanners required, or have the space needed to facilitate scanners, with all the holding areas required, and areas needed to place those containers that cause an alarm. In the final analysis the needed technology must be a practical tool which helps and does not hinder the very supply chains we are seeking to protect.”
   The NIT League was one of many business groups that fought to defeat the inspection amendments.
   The Global Shippers Forum raised the possibility that the bill is actual a barrier to free trade.