After years of various trials and tests of technologies aimed at giving U.S. government authorities more visibility into the security of cargo containers entering the country, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with the cooperation of industry and the governments of Canada and Mexico will soon begin a field evaluation of a system that tracks the security of cargo from the point of stuffing, through the port of entry and to is final destination.
The Secure Transit Corridor (STC) program will monitor to truck-based supply chains originating from Canada, one involving General Motors [GM] and the other Honda, and at the moment a rail-based supply chain that begins in Mexico and that involves Ford Motor Co. [F]. DHS hopes to add a truck-based shipper in Mexico as well.
The demonstrations involving Canada are expected to begin later this month or in early June, Ken Concepcion, a program manager with the DHS Science and Technology (S&T) branch, tells TR2. The demonstrations with Mexico are slated to begin in August or September, he says.
The STC project has high-level backing within S&T and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), dating back more than a year (TR2, Jan. 19, 2011).
The key technology components to the STC project include an electronic chain of custody (ECoC) device that replaces the high security bolt seal used on the cargo containers, active reader technology—mostly radio frequency although some cellular will be used—that is being deployed at the Ambassador Bridge between the U.S. and Canada and the Nogales port of entry in Arizona, and the backend that will process and display the data held in the ECoCs.
The ECoCs, which for the planned year-long demonstrations, are being supplied by iControl, will provide tracking and monitoring of the trucks and rail cars as well as door openings. This way CBP, and even the industry shippers, will be able to track unauthorized door openings, excessive stoppage and unexpected rerouting, Concepcion says.
At the moment the focus of the STC effort is on the integrity and security of the containers but over time other data that CBP currently relies on for cargo entering the U.S., such as the manifest, can be incorporated into the system, Concepcion says.
There are at least two near-term benefits that could result from the STC system.
By having a better understanding of the security of the cargo from the point of stuffing until it reaches the port of entry, a CBP officer will be able to focus on other key information and “hopefully” be able to speed admissibility of the cargo into the U.S., Concepcion says.
For the demonstration the shippers that are involved are also members of CBP’s voluntary supply chain risk mitigation program, C-TPAT. C-TPAT members currently get high priority privileges when their shipments arrive at a port of entry, even if they are flagged for secondary inspection, and as part of the STC program they may eventually be able to be cleared even quicker, Concepcion says.
Second, the STC system will enable industry and CBP to conduct post-shipment analyses, which could be used to see if there were any unusual behaviors in how cargo arrived at its destination. CBP currently doesn’t have this level of in-transit visibility.
The reader architecture is being supplied by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command. Concepcion says that if the evaluations go well, CBP would like to build out a reader infrastructure at its land ports of entry and then eventually it’s maritime and air ports of entry.
The backend infrastructure for the STC system is being supplied by Sandia National Laboratory. Concepcion says that the reader and backend technology is supposed to be technology agnostic and work with ECoCs supplied by any company based on the communications protocol developed by S&T.
If the evaluations go well, Concepcion says that other security technologies—including others being developed for containers—may also be incorporated into the STC system.
One initial cost benefit from use of the ECoCs is that they have a five year battery life so won’t need to be replaced as often as the current high security bolt sales. Companies using the ECoCs will make their money back after just a year or so of using them, Concepcion says.