Global security requirements have increased significantly since 2001. Taking into account the fact that container turnover is reaching ever higher values, and shipyards are accepting orders for container ships already exceeding a capacity of 12,500 TEU, ensuring security in maritime container transport has become a real challenge today.
Terrorist threat
Terrorism is considered one of the greatest threats to democracy and freedom. The subject of an attack can be not only ships and crews, but also port facilities, important transport hubs, or elements of transport infrastructure, the destruction of which could disrupt the functioning of transport chains for a long time. The container, as a receptacle, hinders effective control of its contents and is a tempting tool for smuggling chemical, biological, radioactive, nuclear, or conventional weapons.
Two possible scenarios for the realization of such events are mainly pointed out:
1) Interception of a legal container (shipped with legal cargo and documentation) and placing unwanted cargo inside it,
2) Declaring and transporting illegal and dangerous cargo in a container through legal channels, for example, in the packaging of neutral goods (a so-called “Trojan horse”).
Modern, extensive transport and logistics chains largely facilitate the execution of such actions.
Dangerous goods in containers
In the transport of dangerous goods in containers, a significant problem turns out to be the failure to declare cargo as dangerous material in accordance with the requirements of the IMDG code, which means that the container is then treated like any other. Their exact number remains unknown, but the IMO estimates it at about 5% of global dangerous goods shipments, which, given the recent wave of growth in container transport of this cargo group, would result in a number exceeding half a million undeclared containers per year. It is assumed that the cause of this situation is, on one hand, a lack of knowledge and inability to fill out documents related to the transport of dangerous goods; on the other hand, shippers strive to avoid additional fees associated with the transport of dangerous materials. By pursuing their particular interests, they create a serious threat to the lives of people involved in the handling of such a container (photo 1). For this reason, some countries have introduced their own regulations alongside the applicable IMO rules. For example, in the USA, failure to declare dangerous cargo is punishable by a fine of up to 500,000 USD and 5 years of imprisonment. In Australia, additional port inspections are carried out, and in Singapore, the number of containers with dangerous material on board ships docked at port quays has been limited.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 2/2008.