NIT League warns Congress again about container inspections

NIT League warns Congress again about container inspections    The National Industrial Transportation League on Tuesday mounted a last ditch effort to derail legislation mandating that all inbound ocean containers be imaged and scanned for radiation overseas within five years.
   In a letter to committee leaders in the House and Senate, the freight transportation advocacy group said that last week’s agreement by negotiators to include the scan-all provision in joint legislation    “places our nation’s international supply chains at risk to substantial disruptions without providing major improvements to the security of the nation.
   “We would seriously caution that the use and reliance on ‘scanning’ ocean containers would create a false sense of security (based on current technologies) and would divert finite resources away from programs that in combination (with) ‘screening’ and ‘scanning’ have proven effective in thwarting attacks on seaborne commerce.”
   Congress will vote on a final version of the bill, which is designed to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission for improving homeland security, are ironed out. The House rapidly passed its version of the 9/11 bill in January after Democrats took control there, but the Senate did not include the 100-percent inspection provision in legislation it passed months later. Under the proposal, the Department of Homeland Security would be able to exempt certain foreign ports from meeting the requirement if certain conditions, such as unavailability of technology or wharf space, existed.
   The NIT League has worked to defeat scan-all proposals as part of a broader industry coalition that includes the World Shipping Council, the Retail Leaders Industry Association, the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, the American Association of Exporters and Importers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Joint Industry Group. The import-export industry wants the government to continue on the current path of using risk-based methods to identify potentially dangerous shipments through data analysis and conducting automated inspections on those limited number of containers. They have pressed for Congress to give the Secure Freight Initiative it ordered a chance to produce real-world test results in six foreign ports where X-ray type machines and radiation detectors work simultaneously to produce data feeds for review by U.S. Customs prior to loading on a vessel.   
   The NIT League letter was addressed to Senators Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, the chairman and ranking Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii and Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, the leaders of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; and Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and ranking member Peter King, R-N.Y., leaders of the House Homeland Security Committee.