World Trade - November 2008 - (Page 43)

“That challenge clearly is exacerbated by the signiﬁcant increases in security requirements and investments.” The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has been pushing for mandatory cargo security standards over the last few years. “Right now what’s out there is strictly voluntary and there is nothing that requires our U.S. ports or foreign ports to implement any program that ensures high-level security for individual containers,” says spokesperson Steve Coleman. “We view this as one of the biggest threats to global ports.” Fostering false sense of security? The trading community is currently involved in two most controversial proposals—100 percent scanning (requiring universal scanning of all in-coming cargo) and the 10+2 rule (requiring detailed information from importers and carriers). The big worry: that these initiatives will negatively impact international supply chain operations while engendering a false sense of security. To comply with the requirements would, in the words of Kelby Woodard, principal of Trade Innovations in Austin, Texas, “position the U.S. as an outsider in the world community.” The cost factor of such extensive compliance ﬁgures prominently in the objections. “We have to remember we all have limited resources,” says Shaun Donnelly, senior director of international business policy for National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) in Washington, D.C. “We need to focus on targeting shipments that present the highest risk. U.S. manufacturers who receive components from their well-established overseas partners who are all C-TPAT-compliant should not be subjected to the same amount of scrutiny as an unknown shipper in another part of the world.” Woodard cautions that the Congressional mandate for 100 percent scanning (in every one of 700 ports shipping to the U.S.) could actually make the supply chain less secure, because people could get lax in their due responsibility. “This could put an end to C-TPAT.” Meeting recently with a Senate committee, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Deputy Commissioner Jayson Ahern warned “no one should be misled to believe that 100 percent scanning…is going to present 100 percent security.” He reported that 27 countries, nine international trade organizations, and others have expressed concern that the mandate will overwhelmingly burden their ports and treasuries and it will negatively impact trucking, rail, and other industries. The Government Accountability Ofﬁce weighed in, reporting that it had identiﬁed critical problems arising from the 100 percent requirement and the Secure Freight Initiative (SFI). These include cost, data ownership, the impact on logistics in ports already constrained physically and operationally. The mandate presents significant challenges, concedes Todd Owen, executive director of cargo and conveyance security for CBP in Washington, D.C. These WTM06084GTNex1.indd 1 W W W . W O R L D T R A5/12/08 G . C O M AM 43 D E M A 9:42:14 http://www.gtnexus.com http://WWW.WORLDTRADEMAG.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Trade - November 2008

World Trade - November 2008 Contents Unexpected Responses to Unanticipated Change Reading the States of Risk in Today’s Global Economy Supply Chain Watch Tradewinds Failed Promise: Mexico and NAFTA, 15 Years Later The Short Tale Marrying Trade Finance and Transportation into a Single Transaction Trucking Gets a Double Whammy Are We Safe Yet? Logistics Resurrects the Rust Belt Keep on Compressing

World Trade - November 2008

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