China has officially turned over to the Bureau of Customs (BOC) its donation of four mobile container vehicle inspection systems and two computerized tomography (CT) scan inspection systems.
The inspection systems, which were handed over on January 21, were part of the Contract on Project of China-Aid Container Inspection Equipment signed by BOC and the Ministry of Commerce of China last August 29.
BOC in a statement said the donation process started after the machines, which were provided by China’s Nuctech Company Limited, arrived at BOC last October 8.
Of the four mobile container vehicle inspection systems, two will be deployed at Manila International Container Port, one at Port of Manila, and the remaining one at Port of Subic. The two CT scanners, on the other hand, will be operated at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
According to BOC’s X-ray Inspection Project (XIP), the mobile container vehicle inspection systems can scan up to 60 containers per hour, which will improve trade facilitation. For this system, BOC said the x-ray machines are attached to a Volvo truck equipped with material and color discrimination capability, allowing image analysts to discriminate organic and inorganic materials, “thus enhancing the capability in detecting illegal drugs.”
Further, the mobile container vehicle inspection system can operate using either city power or its own generator.
On the other hand, the CT scan inspection system, aside from its material discrimination feature, can generate a 360-degree image and an image slice, and detect explosives, “thus enhancing security in our major airport.”
BOC said these scanning machines will enable rapid and effective screening of containerized shipments and cargoes with less human intervention, in line with fulfilling BOC’s mandate to keep Philippine borders secure and enhance trade facilitation.
Last year, BOC acquired 58 x-ray machines, bringing the total number of its scanning equipment to 117.
