Hong Kong, the world's busiest container port, agreed to support US Customs in its efforts to raise container security and prevent the movement of goods used by terrorists.
Hong Kong and the US agreed in principle to a bilateral customs cooperation as part of the US's Container Security Initiative, said Robert Bonner, Commissioner of the US Customs Service, at a briefing with the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department in the Asian city.
Under the initiative, the US will station "a small number of US customs officials in Hong Kong" to prescreen and identify containers of concern, Bonner said. Technology such as X-rays, Gamma-rays and radiation detection equipment will be used to isolate high-risk containers, he said.
Last year's Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the US raised concerns that containers on ships may be used to smuggle weapons.
US Customs wants to screen containers at the 20 busiest overseas ports, from where almost half of US-bound containers depart, including Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore.
The US was keen to get Hong Kong on board because the city handles the biggest share of US-bound cargo with almost 10 percent of containers destined for the world's biggest market either originating in Hong Kong or transferring through it. Last year, more than 2.2 million containers leaving Hong Kong were destined for the US.
There agreement will speed up US customs clearance for containers classified as safe, making "the flow of trade between Hong Kong and the US less costly and more efficient," Bonner said.
The agreement will require shippers or forwarders to submit detailed cargo manifests earlier.
"We hope to get cargo information 48 hours before leaving Hong Kong, if not 24 hours" prior to departure, said Raymond Wong Hung-chiu, commissioner of the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department. Until now, shippers and forwarders were allowed to submit shipment details 14 days after leaving port.
The Hong Kong government has held consultative meetings with various shipping companies, forwarding agents, and terminal and mid-stream operators in the past two months, who in general support of the program, Wong said.
"It will increase the operating costs and undermine Hong Kong's competitiveness," said Alfred Tsao, Chairman of the Hong Kong Sea Transport Association Ltd, which represents more than 100 shipping companies and freight forwarders in Hong Kong.
The additional cost for each 20ft equivalent container will be as much as HK$1,000 (US$128), which will probably be paid by the shippers, Tsao said.
"We'll also lose the advantage of being able to load cargo onto ships at the last minute," Tsao said.
Containers have to be delivered to the terminals only a few hours before departure in Hong Kong, compared with two days before departure in China.
Hong Kong faces losing its edge to Chinese ports as the bigger neighbor develops. Port charges in Hong Kong for a 20ft container are about HK$2,145 (US$275), compared with US$141 in Yantian, a Chinese port north of Hong Kong, Tsao said. There will be a trial-run for the security initiative in two weeks, he said.
Six countries joined the security accord before Hong Kong, including Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, and Singapore.
"I'm cautiously optimistic that a number of nations that have huge port operations will be joining the container security initiative soon," Bonner said.
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