FAST arrives in Otay Mesa

FAST arrives in Otay Mesa    Truckers and shippers who use the Otay Mesa, Calif., port of entry to import goods from Mexico can now avoid time-consuming document checks at border checkpoints after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials formally launched the Free and Secure Trade program there Friday.
   Otay Mesa, the second-busiest commercial port on the southwest border, is the fourth southern border crossing with FAST capability. Under the program, pre-certified, low-risk exporters, truck companies and drivers electronically forward shipping data in advance for automated processing and terrorist targeting enabling transponder-equipped trucks to get the green light upon arrival. Drivers carry a special FAST card showing they have passed background checks too. The program is designed to free up inspectors to check trucks with unknown origins that could carry contraband or pose a threat.
   “The opening of FAST here marks a quantum leap toward simultaneously strengthening border security and facilitating trade,” Jayson Ahern, assistant commissioner for field operations, said in a statement after christening the first dedicated FAST lane. Otay Mesa also has a new lane strictly devoted to empty vehicles entering the United States. CBP estimates empties constitute about 40 percent of inbound traffic at Otay Mesa.
   So far, 15 percent of importers and carriers have obtained the FAST pass, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Businessmen along the border hope the normal two-hour wait to cross the border for 750,000 trucks each year will be cut to five to 10 minutes, the paper said.
   Mexican Customs simultaneously rolled out a reciprocal system, Expres, for certified importers to use an express lane into Mexico.
   Other security advances in Otay Mesa include the installation of nine radiation portal monitors to detect the presence of nuclear or radioactive materials in trucks as they drive through the gates and a fixed gamma ray site to scan the empty trailers for undeclared goods.
   CBP is in the process of installing radiation portal monitors at major seaports as well.