MICT soon to be fitted with scanners

INTERNATIONAL Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) is planning to install gamma ray scanners or radiation sensors at its Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) this year to boost security measures at the port. Being eyed is the installation of an optical identification system to be located at the import and export gate to further place MICT at par with international security standards particularly the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code. MICT general manager Francis Andrews said the scanners will boost ICTSI’s centralized gate terminal project which features computer imaging and tracking systems, electronic boom barriers, and weighbridges. The scanners will be hard wired to an international network capable of alerting high-level officials of the need to examine suspicious cargo and take appropriate action. The equipment will ensure no radioactive material is smuggled in or out at the MICT. Under the optical identification system to be implemented next year, all trucks’ plate numbers and their drivers will be registered, doing away with voluminous paperwork for proper identification. ICTSI officials earlier said experts from the United States Homeland Security Department and the US Megaport Initiative are helping install sensitive equipment at the port’s centralized gate project expected to become operational this month. The Megaports Initiative, overseen by the National Nuclear Security Administration of the US Department of Energy, was set up in 2003 to monitor, prevent, and intercept the trafficking of special nuclear materials and other radioactive materials, which could be used by terrorists in creating nuclear weapons, throughout the global maritime network. Its aim is to get cooperation from other countries to equip modern seaports with radiation detection equipment and allow US officials to assess their ports for vulnerability. In 2003 and 2004, the US and British governments installed hundreds of radiation detectors at its major ports and airports.