The U.S. Customs Service is asking importers to volunteer for a new program that is expected to boost national security and expedite Customs procedures. The program calls for shipping companies, manufacturing firms and importers to upgrade their locks and place sensors on their containers allowing inspectors to see if the cargo had been opened after it was packed.
A San Francisco paper reported that an attack on a shipping port may not kill a large number of people, but it could paralyze the U.S. economy and could impact shipping and receiving all over the country.
“You're trying to narrow the haystack, and that's pretty important when you've got seven million cargo containers in the United States on an annual basis,” said Robert Bonner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner, in a published report. The program is a part of U.S. Customs efforts at cooperation with private industry in an effort to boost security. The program, dubbed, “Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism,” includes firms such as General Motors, Motorola, and Target Corp.
