Establish a Container Seal Verification Regime

Two of the most important responsibilities regarding container security are the secure loading (or "stuffing") and sealing of a container by the shipper, and the in-transit security of the container from the moment a carrier picks up the loaded, sealed container from the shipper’s premises until it is delivered to its destination.

Secure Stuffing of the Container

Critically important, as this is the point where container security begins. Without secure stuffing, in-transit security is of little value. The shipper performs the cargo loading and container sealing functions and is responsible for creating a safe and secure shipment. Those who have physical custody of the container during its transit are then responsible for its security en route.

In-Transit Security Through Seal Verification

Recommendations:
The maritime industry (ocean carriers and marine terminal operators) plays a major role in the in-transit security function, has proposed to the government that it establish the following container seal verification requirements:

• Obligation To Seal: The party that physically performs the stuffing of the container is responsible for sealing the container immediately upon the conclusion of a secure stuffing process. Each seal has a unique number, which must be provided to the carrier by the shipper.
  
• Seal Standards: All seals should meet the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard for high security seals.1 The government should establish a specific date by which all containerized shipments must be affixed with such seals by the party that physically performs the stuffing of the container.
  
• Recording Seal Changes: When persons having custody2 of a container, including U.S., state and local government officials, break the seal, they must immediately affix a new seal meeting the ISO standard, and provide the carrier (e.g., trucker, railroad, ocean carrier) or terminal operator in possession of the container with written or electronic confirmation of the event. The carrier or terminal operator must record the new seal number on the relevant shipping documents.
  
• Modal Changes: Ideally, at each modal interchange3 in custody, the party receiving the container (e.g., trucker, railroad) must verify and record4 the seal, its number and its condition upon its receipt. If there is a seal discrepancy or anomaly, the receiving party shall inform the shipper, the party tendering the container, and the party to whom it delivers the container of such discrepancy or anomaly, and shall note it on the shipping documents.

Recognizing that the U.S. government cannot legally require truck and rail operators in foreign jurisdictions to perform a particular action, The Coalition for Secure Ports supports the industry recommendations that the government should require an ocean carrier (or its agent) transporting a loaded container to the U.S. to perform the verification procedures outlined below.

• Seal Verification: The Department of Homeland Security should by regulation require the ocean carrier or its agent to verify the applied container seal before loading a container onto a vessel bound for the U.S. by determining:

  (a) Whether a proper ISO standard seal is affixed to the container;

  (b) If the proper ISO standard seal is affixed, whether the seal is intact or if it exhibits evidence of tampering;

  (c) What the seal number is; and

  (d) Whether that seal number is the same as that which the shipper stated was originally affixed to the container.

• Addressing Seal Anomalies: There are four different kinds of seal "anomalies" that could arise under these procedures:

  1) The seal does not meet the ISO standard;

  2) The seal number does not match the seal number in the shipping documents;

  3) The seal has been tampered with and is not intact; or

  4) The seal is missing.

  Customs should promulgate a rulemaking to define how these anomalies should be addressed.

1 Publicly Available Specification 17712, International Organization for Standardization.

2 In this context, persons with "custody" have a right to inspect or gain access to the contents of the container during transit. Such persons might include, in addition to the party with physical possession of the container, the government officials referenced in the text, persons such as hazardous materials incident first responders, insurance inspectors, or representatives of the cargo owners.

3 "Modal interchange" in this context refers to the modal transfer of the container from ocean carrier to trucker, trucker to rail, rail to truck, etc, but is not intended to cover rail interline changes where, for example, control of a stack train is transferred from one railroad to another railroad.

4 International Organization for Standardization.