Defending the Coasts

“The Unwatched Ships at Sea” by H. D. S. Greenway, in World Policy Journal (Summer 2003), New School Univ., 66 Fifth Ave., 9th fl., New York, N.Y. 10011.

Since 9/11, Americans have paid a lot of attention to airport security. But terror could as easily come by sea as by air, and it’s far harder to make America’s ports and 95,000 miles of coastline secure, observes Green­way, a Boston Globe columnist. “Every day, some five million tons of cargo—more than 95 percent of this country’s non-North American trade—comes in through 361 ports, and less than 2 percent of it is ever inspected.”

The task of guarding the ports and coastline, he notes, falls to the “hitherto undermanned, underfinanced, ill-equipped” U.S. Coast Guard, a force of 35,000 regulars and 8,000 reservists. Incorporated into the new Depart­ment of Homeland Security last March, the Coast Guard is scheduled to get a $1 billion increase in its $5 billion budget, and 5,000 more personnel.

Budgetary constraints aren’t its only problem. Some 211,000 commercial vessels carrying 5.8 million 40-foot containers entered Amer­ican ports in 2000. To search a single container takes a five-inspector team three hours. “Even if it were possible to search them all at U.S. ports of entry,” Greenway says, “an overzealous approach could stop trade dead in its tracks and bring this country’s economy to ruin.”

Efforts are under way “to push this country’s borders overseas to the points of loading,” notes Greenway. Under the Container Security Initia­tive undertaken by the U.S. Customs Service last year, customs officials can be stationed in foreign ports to inspect U.S.-bound cargoes. The needed agreements with other countries are now being negotiated.

“Were foreign ports to be made responsible, with American help, for guaranteeing the safety of containers and for properly sealing them before they are loaded onto ships bound for the United States, security would be enhanced and commerce would not be unduly slowed,” Greenway observes.

Most goods that reach the United States by sea (excluding petroleum products) pass through Hong Kong, Singapore, Hamburg, Antwerp, or Rotterdam. These “superports” are the key to establishing a common standard for security.

Foreign ships approaching U.S. ports now must inform the Coast Guard four days in advance of arrival, listing their cargoes and crew members; before 9/11, only 24 hours’ notice was required. “Eventually,” writes Green­way, “a system will be worked out where reliable shippers who follow proper procedures in cooperating foreign ports will be allowed into U.S. ports without hassle, just as airports are trying to organize security to allow frequent and trusted travelers through quickly and easily.”