U.S. CUSTOMS OPERATES CSI IN HONG KONG

U.S. CUSTOMS OPERATES CSI IN HONG KONG    U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection said a team of officers began targeting containers for inspection this week at the Port of Hong Kong, the 11th port in which U.S. inspectors are operating under a program known as the Container Security Initiative.
   The outbreak of the potentially deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in China forced Customs to delay deployment of its CSI team for three weeks, but the lifting of travel restrictions by the State Department enabled Customs to go ahead with its plans, a Customs spokeswoman said.
   The CSI teams use shipping data to pre-screen containers before departure and identify high-risk shipments to be searched before arrival at a U.S. port. More containers flow into the United States from Hong Kong than any other port in the world. Last year nearly 560,000 containers entered the U.S. from the Port of Hong Kong.