Containing the threat

The security of freight containers has become a major concern in recent years. Largely unsupervised, containers are potentially perfect storage units for weapons of mass destruction or high explosives.

The issue has become something of a headache for already stretched customs authorities - searching for a bomb in a sea of containers could be akin to searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

Approximately 95% of the world’s trade moves by containers, mainly on large ships, but also on trains and trucks. This method of transporting goods is "efficient and economical, but vulnerable", according to the Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen, a branch of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC).

Security is scant. Usually, containers are sealed with plastic strips or mechanical seals that are easy to breach. In most cases, it is impossible to identify where intrusions might have occurred. The problem is testing the limits of detection- technology.

The risks of maritime terrorism are at least as great as the risk of attacks on civilian aircraft, according to the 9/11 commission, a US body charged with proposing security recommendations after the 2001 attack on the World Trade Centre in New York. Yet customs and border control authorities in both the US and the EU are simply unable to check all cargo. Monitoring with manpower alone would be time-consuming, creating chaos in company supply chains.

The problem has revealed a gap in the technology market.

One solution currently being tested in Europe at the JRC involves the use of electronic tags to protect container doors. The tags, based on radio frequency identification technology, can detect breaches and store information on timing in a permanent memory, which can in turn be relayed to database networks.

Another JRC solution is similar to a home alarm. Modules containing volume, temperature and light sensors are able to trigger alarms in remote locations through GSM networks. Alarms are set off in real time. The centre is also investigating the use of X-ray radiography to locate suspect contents, which can then be tested on the spot.

Measures being proposed by the US to combat attacks have recently set alarm bells ringing in the EU. Under a law approved by US President George W. Bush last month, all cargo leaving EU shores for the US will have to be tested for nuclear weapons.

The EU and the US have already clashed over cargo security measures. In 2003, the European Commission threatened to take Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, Spain and Italy to court for signing bilateral agreements giving US customs agents the power to search all containers leaving European ports for the US.

The agreements were an extension of a US law called the container security initiative. A year later, in 2004, the US government succeeded in getting the Commission to seal a deal covering checks and data sharing on behalf of all member states.

US laws approved in August as part of a raft of post-11 September security measures will oblige EU ports to scan all goods headed for US shores. László Kovács, the European commissioner for taxation and customs union, expressed concern last month about the "disproportionate" burdens this would place on both ports and businesses. The measures, which must be implemented within five years, were imposed without EU consent.

The security of freight containers has become a major concern in recent years. Largely unsupervised, containers are potentially perfect storage units for weapons of mass destruction or high explosives.