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Northport, at
Port Klang, will be included in the US-led Container Security Initiative
(CSI) programme by the end of this year.
This was disclosed by the Director of Royal Customs Selangor, Datuk Wazir.
Wazir said the CSI was an initiative that was developed by the U.S. Customs
following the terrorist attack on US on September 11th.
Now within the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) is continuing to implement CSI at major ports around the
world.
Under the CSI program implemented at major ports around the world, US
Customs & Border Protection officers are deployed to work with Malaysian
Customs to target high risk cargo containers and ensure they do not contain
weapons of mass destruction and dirty bombs.
A group of eight officials from the Customs and Border Protection of the US
Department of Homeland Security were in Port Klang recently to identify the
process needed in the implementation of CSI at Port Klang.
The Customs chief said it was important for Port Klang to be labelled as a
safe port or green lane port in the context of CSI since Port Klang has been
emerging as the fast growing regional transshipment hub.
According to Wazir the discussions with the US officials centered on the
site assessment including evaluating prearrival information on container
shipments destined to US, identifying required technology and determining
the physical locations for co-locating inspectors and network equipment
needed.
To date, the governments of 18 of the top 20-mega ports have signed
declarations of principle to join CSI and are at various stages of
implementation.
They include Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Rotterdam, Pusan, Bremerhaven,
Tokyo, Genoa, Yantian, Antwerp, Nagoya, Le Havre, Hamburg, La Spezia,
Felixstowe, Algeciras, Kobe, and Yokohama.
Additionally, Port Klang and Pelabuhan Tanjung Pelepas have also joined CSI. |
