Customs agencies add x-ray screening systems at ports

Customs agencies add x-ray screening systems at ports    Customs administrations in Australia, the Netherlands and Canada have recently invested in extra cargo inspection systems.
   L-3 Communications, a U.S. provider of surveillance systems, said it signed a contract worth about $1.75 million with the Australian Customs Service to supply two pallet x-ray scanning systems with two-dimensional capability. Depending on the configuration, the CX-450P equipment can process up to 34 pallets or large pieces of freight per hour.
   L-3’s Security and Detection Systems unit, in Woburn, Mass., also said it received an order by Dutch Customs for a 3.8 mega-electronvolt high-energy mobile x-ray container imaging machine at the Port of Rotterdam, where a 2.5 MeV L-3 mobile system is already in use. For comparison, a 2.5 MeV system can penetrate 180 millimeters of steel, while a 3 MeV one can penetrate more than 200 mm.
   Meanwhile, the Canada Border Services Agency said it will install pallet gamma-ray scanning systems by San Diego-based Science Applications International Corp. at container examination facilities in British Columbia, Montreal, Quebec and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia this fall.