Ocean carriers to be port security watchdogs for Coast Guard

Ocean carriers to be port security watchdogs for Coast Guard    Cargo vessel captains and crews will help the U.S. Coast Guard monitor security conditions in ports around the world under a cooperative agreement announced Tuesday between the sea service and the World Shipping Council.
   International vessel carriers will submit reports on how well ports are complying with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code, which has been in force since July 2004. Carrier participation is voluntary and the reports will be confidential, the WSC said.
   The International Ship and Port Facility Code (ISPS) requires countries to develop and implement antiterrorism plans for port facilities. The Coast Guard visits ports around the world to make sure adequate security measures are in place. There are seven countries that do not meet ISPS requirements. Vessels that have called at ports in those countries are boarded at sea and may be subject to other restrictions, such as daylight-only transit or even denial of entry into U.S. waters.
   The Coast Guard also oversees all port facilities in the United States to make sure they comply with facility security codes.
   Coast Guard officers have visited ports in 44 countries, but a lack of resources has limited the scope of the compliance checks. The Coast Guard has only 20 inspectors, 13 for all of Europe, Africa, Latin America and Central America and seven for Asia, meaning that foreign ports do not get frequent checks, according to Stephen Flynn, a former Coast Guard captain and senior fellow on border security issues at the Council on Foreign Relations. The visits also tend to be cursory, he said.
   Members of the World Shipping Council, which represents carriers that serve the United States, will now be additional eyes and ears for the Coast Guard in foreign, as well as U.S. ports.
   “If we see really good practices, the idea is to share that as well,” WSC President Christopher Koch told Shippers’ NewsWire.
   Koch first alluded to the port monitoring partnership on Feb. 28 during a Senate hearing about the security implications of the Dubai Ports World takeover of cargo operations in almost two dozen U.S. ports.
   The effort resembles the Highway Watch program promoted by the American Trucking Associations, in which truck drivers are trained to detect suspicious activity on the road or in cargo facilities and how to report that information to law enforcement authorities.
   Koch said there is no special training involved in the port monitoring program.