CSI starts up in Jamaica, Taiwan
U.S. inspectors have begun work at the Port of Kingston in Jamaica and the Port of Keelung in Taiwan screening shipping documents and recommending outbound containers for local authorities to X-ray scan for possible smuggling, Customs and Border Protection said.
Jamaica joined the Container Security Initiative in June. Taiwan’s Kaohsiung port has been operating as a CSI port for many months. Under the program, foreign governments allow CBP to station officers at foreign ports to target high-risk containers for inspection before they are put on a U.S.-bound vessel.
There are 46 active CSI ports around the world and CBP expects to be in 50 ports, through which 82 percent of imports flow, by the end of the year.