2008-Feb. 7: Ports in the United States get significant financial grants to assist their security initiatives while the ports of poor Caribbean countries, considered the USA’s Third Border, have to compete with food, health care and education for public funding.

Caribbean Shipping Association General Manager, Stephen Bell, expressed these concerns of the Association when he spoke in the workshop on ‘Technology, Practices, Training’ at the ‘Secure Port 2008’ conference on January 30 in Houston, Texas.

Mr. Bell said that the fight against terrorism was a global one in which, because of geography, the countries of the Caribbean are involved. Ships can be viewed as a platform for attack or as a weapon itself, he said and therefore the countries of the Caribbean have to remain on the cutting edge of security technology.

The Caribbean comprised poor countries trying to keep pace with the demands of buying extremely expensive technology for port security or otherwise ships and cargo passing through their ports will not be allowed to enter the United Sates of America. On top of that, the Caribbean was also now faced the challenge of 100 per cent scanning of containers.

How can these small, poor countries finance this cost, he asked, adding that it was having a “stifling effect” on the national economies of the Region.

Aside from the cost of purchasing and maintaining expensive imaging equipment, 100 per cent scanning will lead to crippling congestion. Technical and infrastructural inadequacies dictate that “ … efforts to line up and scan more than 11 million USA- bound containers per year will lead to crippling congestion.” It will actually force shippers to spend more money on inventory, he said.

Some Caribbean countries were so small, their gross domestic product (GDP) was smaller than some corporate budgets, notwithstanding, they were required to meet the same stringent requirements and standards and to purchase technology at the same price as everyone else.

The CSA General Manager suggested that the ports of the English, Spanish, Dutch and French speaking Caribbean be considered in this grant program. The truth is our economies just do not have the financial resources to keep up. We do have other concerns – food, shelter, education and basic health care- that have to be addressed, the CSA General Manager said.

We in the Caribbean are continuing to do our best to keep pace. We might not have the equipment but we do believe that an important part of the security machinery is training. We have to train our people so that they can deliver efficiencies and fully exploit the potentials of the systems and equipment in which we have invested so heavily.

He reassured delegates that the CSA was aware of this and was working to expand various training options.

 

CSA members may read the text of Mr. Bell's address :