Serious immediate and lasting effects
As the report indicates, a nuclear device or chemical/biological weapon detonated in a shipping container at an American port would not only be an immediate catastrophe, it could severely interrupt economic activity for months thereafter. An attack of this kind would require immediate inspection of containers at other U.S. ports and in ships unloading at or approaching U.S. ports. Major trans-shipment ports such as Rotterdam or Singapore would soon become backed-up affecting ocean shipments worldwide.
The CFR task force issues several recommendations to improve security of surface cargoes entering the U.S:
-- An integrated approach to security covering the entire logistics and transportation network, rather than reacting to known vulnerabilities at individual ports of entry
-- Security standards at inter-modal loading facilities, including certification of compliance with the standards backed up by independent audits
-- Identification and demonstration projects of off-the-shelf sensing equipment to track container movements
-- Improvement in the timing and accuracy of data about the contents, location, and accountability of container movements
Automatic identification technology readily available
The task of tracking and inspecting cargoes seems daunting and it would by no means be easy. However, the protocols and technology for identifying containers and their contents are well established and have existed for some time. In fact, these technologies are employed in many of the industries, such as retail distribution, and manufacturing making extensive use of the transportation networks.
Tracking containers and cargoes requires separately identifying (1) the container and (2) the cargoes, and (3) connecting the cargo identifiers to the container. Right now, the only security-related identifier is the seal number on the container, which applies only to the one-time shipment. For any shipping container to be loaded on a vessel, it should also have a unique identifier assigned by an international authoritative body. There are many precedents for identifying and tracking assets in this way, including the Vehicle Identification Number found in automobiles, assigned by the manufacturers. A similar kind of identifier can be assigned by container manufacturers.
