"It's more of a clerical information flow required from shippers and brokers," said Gene Bailey, executive director of the Port of Wilmington.
"We, at the port level, have nothing to do with that," he said. "That's between the steamship lines and Customs."
Since the September 2001 terrorist attacks, vessels with U.S.-bound cargo are required to send ship manifests to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 24 hours before sailing. The manifest information is transmitted to a national center and analyzed, and high-risk cargo is inspected before leaving foreign ports.
The new screening measure asks for details about where the cargo came from, who the shipper is, who the manufacturer was, etc.
"The shipping community has known about it for quite some time," said Thomas Holt Jr., head of Holt Logistics Inc., which runs the Packer Avenue Terminal in South Philadelphia and owns the Gloucester City Terminal south of Camden.
"From our perspective in the port here, it won't be any different," Holt said. "This gives Customs a lot more time to screen the information that the exporters and shippers give them. And it also gives them additional information, different data elements, that will help them identify high-risk cargoes," he said.
"So when cargoes do get here, Customs can either put them aside for further scrutiny, or expedite cargo they may not have to inspect. The key is to get to a point that cargo doesn't get on the ship unless it's prescreened," Holt said.
"It's one more step in the government's plan to make the country safer from terroristic threats. It's a good thing," Holt said. "There's a much higher level of inspection of cargoes and sensitivity to high-threat cargoes than pre-9/11."
Contact staff writer Linda Loyd at 215-854-2831 or lloyd@phillynews.com.
