The United States and Hong Kong today arranged to cooperate on the Secure Freight Initiative, a joint effort of the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Departments of Energy (National Nuclear Security Administration) and State aimed at keeping radioactive weapons out of U.S.-bound cargo.

Hong Kong is a key location for this scanning to take place. Among worldwide seaports processing containers with goods destined for the U.S., Hong Kong is first in terms of the volume of shipments and containers imported. In fiscal year 2006, for example, the country processed more than 1.3 million shipments bound for the U.S., constituting 11.48 percent of all shipments here.

Hong Kong will be participating in the Secure Freight Initiative in a limited capacity on an initial basis. However, even this limited participation goes beyond the mandate of the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act (SAFE Port Act) of 2006. That law required that the U.S. evaluate, at three initial ports, the possibility of scanning 100 percent of U.S.-bound cargo for radiation.

In fact, the port of Hong Kong is part of the second group of international ports evaluating integrated cargo radiation detection and non-intrusive imaging capabilities in Phase 1 of the Secure Freight Initiative, also known as the International Container Security project. Operational testing of Secure Freight Initiative equipment began at Port Qasim, Pakistan on March 31, 2007, and on April 2, 2007 at Puerto Cortés, Honduras. Testing at the port of Southampton in the United Kingdom is expected to begin later this year.

The second group of ports, which will provide radiation detection and imaging capabilities on a limited capacity basis beyond that required by the SAFE Port Act, include: Singapore’s Brani terminal; the Gamman terminal at Busan, Korea; and Oman’s Port Salalah. These facilities, along with Hong Kong, were chosen to help determine the impact of radiation scanning at large volume ports, as well as at ports where a large number of transshipments are processed. Phase 1 results will provide guidance on future port expansion.

At Hong Kong, as in other ports, data from Secure Freight Initiative scanning and imaging equipment will be provided in near-real time to CBP officials on-site and at the National Targeting Center in the United States for analysis and automatic integration with U.S. systems.

Slightly more than four and a half years ago, in December 2002, the port of Hong Kong was designated a Container Security Initiative port. CSI officers use manifest examinations and other information to determine whether X-ray and radiation detection equipment should be used to examine U.S.-bound cargo. The Secure Freight Initiative expands the use of scanning and imaging equipment to examine more U.S.-bound containers, not just those determined to be high-risk.