As we reflect this month on the five year anniversary of Sept. 11, many of us have thought back on how our personal or professional lives have changed in that time.
The term “port security” has undergone a complete transformation in five years. Prior to Sept. 11, 2001, port security meant illegal contraband. Today, while illegal contraband is still a focus, the duties of those departments and agencies that protect our ports are now concentrated on preventing acts of terrorism. But then, as now, nothing we do at the Maryland Port Administration is more important than keeping the Port of Baltimore (recently renamed the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore) safe and secure.
At the Port of Baltimore, security is a team effort. It begins with the partnership between governor?s office and the Maryland Transportation Authority Police. Our security team includes the United States Coast Guard and the United States Customs and Border Protection. We also have a private firm that provides security at our six public marine terminals and World Trade Center in Baltimore.
Just this summer, the Department of Homeland Security announced the availability of $168 million in port security grants. Since June 2002, our port has received more than $21 million in both federal and state security funds.
Thanks in part to this funding, we signed a $5.5 million contract with an international security firm to design and install a remote video surveillance system. This new system is a fully inclusive communications and electronic network that includes closed circuit television and video analysis. It will give us real-time intrusion detection technology and allow security personnel to monitor terminals, fences, gates, and piers in order to quickly respond to suspicious activities.
A big advantage that the Port of Baltimore enjoys over other ports is the presence of the CBP?s Mobile Sea Container System, more commonly known as the Eagle. Our port is one of only two U.S. ports that has the Eagle. The Eagle is an x-ray machine for the large containers that come through our port everyday. Containers can include any cargo imaginable, from big-screen TVs, to clothing, to bicycles, to engine parts. The Eagle has the ability to scan through 14 inches of solid metal and inspect a 40-foot container in about 30 seconds.
Each year, about 400 different truck companies come into the Seagirt Marine Terminal transporting cargo that will ultimately find its way into the hands of consumers. With this amount of truck traffic, the Port of Baltimore became the first port on the East Coast to begin to install the Emodal Trucker Check system. This will use a consolidated database to verify a trucker?s driver and company information. It will also help to verify for us that a particular trucker has a legitimate reason to be at our port.
We are keeping very close tabs on the development of the federal Transportation Workers Identification Credential. The port industry has been anxiously anticipating progress on this for the last couple of years. Having a standardized ID with biometric verification will be an enormous help in verifying the identities of thousands of individuals that have access to our port.
These are just some of the many ways we are making our port more secure and ensuring the necessary flow of cargo. By daily working to fulfill those two mandates, we will remain one of the top ports in the nation.
F. Brooks Royster III is the executive director of the Maryland Port Administration.
