Terrorist threat shakes up world's maritime industry<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Martin Abbugao, Singapore<\/p>\n
Fears of terrorist attacks in the high seas and busy trading
\nports are shaking up the world's shipping industry as the focus
\nshifts from aviation to maritime security, analysts and officials
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The terrifying prospect of a suicide attack, or bombs being
\nsmuggled into a U.S. port, has prompted sweeping security
\nmeasures, and maritime executives are fretting over higher costs
\nand operational complications.<\/p>\n
By July next year, ships and ports must comply with new
\nsecurity rules mandated by the International Maritime
\nOrganization (IMO) to prevent a seaborne equivalent of the
\nSeptember 2001 suicide attacks by plane hijackers in New York and
\nWashington.<\/p>\n
The U.S., the world's biggest export market, has also imposed
\nmore stringent checks on goods bound for its ports and has
\nrequired vessels to give an advance manifest containing a
\ndetailed description of their cargo 24 hours before they are
\nloaded.<\/p>\n
American Customs officers are stationed in major ports
\nworldwide to help pre-screen container boxes bound for the U.S.<\/p>\n
For shipping firms, the costs could come from hiring and
\ntraining security officers, preparing security plans and paying
\nhigher container storage fees. An estimated 43,000 ships and
\nmobile offshore drilling units worldwide have to comply with the
\nnew rules.<\/p>\n
Ports have to contend with costs related to the security
\ninspection of containers, putting in place new equipment such as
\nscanners and delays in ship departures.<\/p>\n
"The shipping industry is not exactly the most profitable
\nindustry right now," one executive said.<\/p>\n
And in an industry traditionally used to self-regulation, the
\nsweeping changes could be hard to swallow.<\/p>\n
Under the IMO rules for example, shipping lines are required
\nto appoint a company security officer and a security officer for
\neach ship.<\/p>\n
A security assessment must be carried out and a security plan
\nput on board each vessel. The ship's security system has to be
\naudited to make sure it complies with the requirements.<\/p>\n
"The implications of security on supply chain design can be
\nprofound," said Chelsea White, chair of transportation and
\nlogistics at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the U.S. said
\nat a conference on maritime security here last week.<\/p>\n
"More generally, issues on security are now having significant
\ninfluence on where raw materials, commodities and system
\ncomponents are purchased and built," White said.<\/p>\n
U.S. Coast Guard and Customs officials and security experts
\nsaid the maritime industry remains a vulnerable target for
\nterrorists seeking to wreak havoc of a magnitude and impact
\nsimilar to the September 2001 strikes in the U.S..<\/p>\n
"The consequences of a terrorist incident using a container
\nwould be profound," said U.S. Customs Service deputy commissioner
\nDouglas Browning.<\/p>\n
If a weapon of mass destruction concealed in a container box
\nwas detonated at a U.S. port, "the impact on trade and the world
\neconomy will be immediate and devastating," he said at the
\nconference.<\/p>\n
The U.S. and other countries will stop unloading containers,
\nresulting in a massive pile-up and "the net result will be
\ncomplete paralysis of the global trade network," Browning said.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Coast Guard commandant, Admiral Thomas Collins, said:
\n"A World Trade Centre equivalent in the maritime sector would
\nhave a serious, long lasting negative impact both to our systems
\nof trade and to our economies."<\/p>\n
Vikram Verma, chief executive of U.S.-based supply chain
\nsecurity firm Savi Technology, Inc., said sabotaging the
\nefficient flow of goods is one of the most effective ways to
\ncripple the U.S. economy.<\/p>\n
Nearly half of all incoming trade to the U.S. arrives by ship,
\nmost of it coming by containers.<\/p>\n
Security analysts said a similar disruption could result if
\none devastating seaborne attack is carried out successfully in
\nthe busy Strait of Malacca in Southeast Asia which has long been
\nconsidered a piracy hot spot.<\/p>\n
"Where piracy is active, terrorism is more than possible,"
\nsaid Raphael Kahn, director of Netherlands-based consultancy
\nSecure Marine BV.<\/p>\n
"Piracy is active in unprotected regions where it is easy to
\nget to the target unseen and it is easy to escape too. Why would
\na terrorist look for hard targets when easy targets are available
\nwith the same effect?" he asked.<\/p>",
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