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14 Maritime Professional 1Q 2011 participation in issues such as CSD technical characteristics, the security status messages standardization; related stan- dardization in areas such as the Authorized Economic

Operator (AEO), Europe's expansion of the U.S. C-TPAT;

Secure Trade Lanes (STL) /Green Lanes; Neutrality;

Information Gateways and more. The program’s key stake- holders include multinational shipping companies, the

Chinese Ministry of

Transport PRC, the EU

Commission, the German

Shipowners and many others.

Today, there is no U.S. involvement whatsoever in the FP7 and a representative of the House Homeland

Security Committee has stat- ed that DHS and Customs and

Border Protection (CBP) did- n't believe that they needed to participate. Closer to home, the absence of mutual supply chain security programs between the United States and Mexico is alarming.

Mexico is not even a partner in CSI. Chinese Customs is working with the FP7 and

European and U.S. private sectors. The Chinese private sector has come to the United

States to ask for assistance from the U.S. private sector in setting up a control system to monitor approximately 500,000 daily moves of haz- ardous materials within

China. Even Pakistan is test- ing container security units from Europe for use in U.S.-related operations, but without any overt DHS participation. This weakness was confirmed by a recent report from DHS that admitted a lack of cooper- ation and signaled movement to change that reality. In a July 2010 report, DHS conceded that it needs to deepen

International engagement and work with key international partners to improve these critical partnerships and the activi- ties that span the entire homeland security mission space.

THE ROTTERDAM RULES

The U.N. General Assembly adopted the United Nations

Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of

Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea (Rotterdam Rules) on

December 11, 2008. The rules define the rights and obliga- tions of stakeholders in the maritime transport industry under a single contract for door-to- door carriage. On September 2009, the United States – with fifteen other nations – became a signatory. Today, a total of twenty countries have signed the Rules. However, for the Rules to become law in the United States as a treaty, the President must sign it into law, replacing the 1936 Carriage of Goods by

Sea Act (COGSA) and super- seding the Hague, Hague-

Visby, and Hamburg Rules,” making it a new day for ship- pers, consignees, and vessel carriers with respect to mar- itime liability and security.

Unfortunately, the Congress has not yet acted. Clearly, the United States is not tak- ing any leadership role in moving the Rules forward; a critical step in securing the global maritime supply chain.

A GLIMMER OF HOPE

While the United States has lost its leadership role in con- tainer and supply chain secu- rity, the U.S. private sector has not. A new movement within DHS, probably due to new leadership in the Science & Technology Directorate, has prompted DHS to admit that it needs to reestablish coopera- tion domestically and internationally. A Bottom-Up Review

Report, DHS, July 2010 highlighted the need for DHS to: 1. Enhance Partner Capability and Capacity because “Responsibilities for homeland security are broader than those of DHS and indeed broader than those of the Federal

Insights

HOT TECH

Cakeboxx (www.cakeboxx.com) developed innovative shipping containers, containers without doors, composite construction; freezer boxes without the need of on-board refrigeration or ship- board power; hazmat containment containers, gondola contain- ers that can carry liquid, solids, and even ore up to 500 tons of copper ore; vacuum containers and more.

Science & Technology Directorate House Homeland Security Committee Chinese Ministry