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Security

Container Security Struggles for Standards

01 Aug 2006

Governments and port authorities acknowledge that the 17 million cargo containers in use around the world are a weak link in national security arrangements. Importers/ exporters and manufacturers understand that poor container security poses a risk to the goods they contain. Yet because there are so many players in the global freight ecosystem, and the problem is distributed in thousands of ports and transport hubs around the world, attempts to improve it have been inadequate.

The implementation of an agreed standard for electronic container security could reduce the incidence of security measures by other means.
The implementation of an agreed standard for electronic container security could reduce the incidence of security measures by other means.

'Efforts underway in the International Standards Organisation to create a uniform standard for electronic container security should bear fruit within the next 12 months, says analyst Robert Foppiani of New York based ABI Research, which has a European office in London.

'But getting shippers and port operators to comply and to invest in costly systems that provide little or no return on investment is another matter. Everyone wants to improve security, but all the maritime industry players are looking to each other to be the first to invest. An organisation such as the World Customs Organisation needs to mandate electronic seal standards. Until some of these stakeholders make hard decisions, the situation will remain unsatisfactory.'

Several manufacturers, including American giants General Electric and IBM, have gone ahead to design electronic container security systems, which serve to highlight the problems still to be overcome. General Electric's 'CommerceGuard' is a proprietary system, a hindrance to any global system which, to be effective, must work identically in thousands of facilities worldwide. Unlike other systems which use disposable tags, CommerceGuard's are re-usable, implying a complex recycling operation which will not be popular with shippers.

Foppiani concluded, 'Because the container electronic security market is still quite immature, it is difficult for government to specify a single technology as a cure all solution. But until something is done, security will continue to suffer.'

MJ Information No: 22117

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The implementation of an agreed standard for electronic container security could reduce the incidence of security measures by other means.

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