India's Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) will become the country's first port to sign a global security initiative to protect shipping from terrorist attacks, officials said on Saturday. "We have taken an in-principle decision to sign up the Container Security Initiative (CSI). Other finer details are still being worked out," a senior JNPT official, who did not want to be named, told Reuters on Saturday. Launched in January 2002, the initiative seeks to identify high-risk containers, screen them before they arrive at US ports, and enhance technology to make containers easier to screen and less vulnerable to tampering.
More than 30 ports around the world, including Singapore and Shanghai have signed up to the CSI, which was launched after the September 11 attacks.
Under the CSI programme, a team of US Customs and Border Protection will be deployed at JNPT in Bombay, which will work with Indian customs and port officials to screen containers which pose any risk of terrorism, port officials said.
Almost half of incoming trade by value to the US arrives by containers in ships, according to the US Customs and Border Protection.
Nearly 9 million cargo containers arrive on ships and are offloaded at US seaports each year.
JNPT shipped nearly 160,000 containers to the US in the year to March 31, 2005.
"Joining CSI will benefit Indian exporters. They will be able to sustain their exports and may be even increase it significantly," the JNPT official said.