Official SFI Data Transmissions from Port Qasim, Pakistan Began April 30, 2007
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a press release announcing that the Secure Freight Initiative "officially" began transmitting data from a new radiation scanning system (that includes both radiation detection and non-intrusive imaging)1 in Port Qasim, Pakistan on April 30, 2007 as part of its operational testing of Phase One of SFI.
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Port Qasim Joins Puerto Cortes as SFI Ports, Southampton Pending
CBP has previously stated that operational testing of Phase One of SFI began in Port Qasim in March 2007; Puerto Cortes, Honduras on April 2, 2007; and is scheduled to begin in Southampton, United Kingdom in summer 2007. (Operational testing began with the deployment of the radiation scanning system's infrastructure and the "unofficial" transmission of data. See ITT's Online Archives or 04/13/07 news, 07041305, for BP summary.)
SFI is Testing Capability to Scan 100% of All U.S. Bound Containers
Under SFI, the capability to scan 100% of all cargo bound for the U.S. with radiation detection and non-intrusive imaging equipment will be evaluated at three ports - Port Qasim, Puerto Cortes, and Southampton. Data from these systems is then provided to U.S. officials at the National Targeting Center for analysis, thus fulfilling the pilot requirements set out by Congress in the Security and Accountability for Every (SAFE) Port Act of 2006.
According to CBP, three additional ports have been added to the Phase One evaluation and will provide radiation scanning on a limited capacity basis: Singapore's Brani terminal; Busan, Korea's Gamman terminal; and Salalah, Oman. These ports were chosen to help determine the impact of scanning at large volume ports, as well as at ports where a large number of transshipments are processed.
CBP to Ramp Up Capabilities at Port Qasim to Scan All U.S. Bound Containers
CBP states that it has reviewed operations at Port Qasim and is very encouraged by the results. Data signals from both the first and second radiation portal monitors and the X-ray imaging system were received at the National Targeting Center in the U.S. Alarms were tested and the first container was processed, which did not activate alarms. No notification issues were raised. CBP states that it will now begin ramping up capabilities to scan all U.S.-bound containers that depart Port Qasim.
1According to CBP sources, this new radiation scanning system is an integrated system that pulls data from both the radiation detection and non-intrusive imaging equipment and puts it into a single file to be transmitted to the U.S.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 10/05/06 news, 06100510, for BP summary of the conference version of the SAFE Port Act, which discusses, among other things, the requirement of an integrated scanning system pilot at three foreign ports.
See ITT's Online Archives or 06/23/06 news, 06062305, for BP summary of outlining Phases 1-3 of SFI.)
SFI press release (dated 05/02/07) available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/05022007.xml.