• High-seas piracy triggers higher insurance rates for shippers

    Here is a problem ideally suited for contemporary courses at business schools: Shippers face a a choice: if they send their ships to sail through the piracy-infested Gulf of Aden, they now have to pay much higher insurance; they can instead choose to take long trips around the Africa’s southern tip; both choices add millions to the cost of each journey; which one is preferable?

  • Texas university offers maritime degree

    The growing security mandates imposed on U.S. sea ports, and need to manage these mandates with but minimal disruption of the flow of commerce, have led Texas Southern University to begin to offer a new degree program in maritime transportation; the bachelor’s and master’s degrees will prepare students in three areas: maritime logistics, security, and environmental compliance

  • DHS to Congress: reconsider cargo mandate

    Congress passed a law requiring DHS to ensure that all U.S.-bound containers are scanned abroad by 2012; DHS told legislators that this mandate “needs to be thoughtfully reconsidered”

  • U.S. to provide radar surveillance to Cameroonian coasts

    The United States will provide Cameroon with sophisticated radar gear to monitor the country’s coastal water; the United States is concerned not only about the safety of Cameroonian coasts but also about that of the entire Gulf of Guinea, plagued by sea-hijackings

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  • Securing the homeland: Asset tracking in a layered security environment // by Ted Langhoff and Nishant Pillai

    The need to effectively secure and track cargo, not just at the port, but throughout the supply chain — long before its arrival in the United States — has become an important priority and factors significantly into efforts to ensure U.S. national security

  • Big problems with RFID deployment at Los Angeles-Long Beach ports

    The first day of using RFID tags caused a reported 1,500 trucks to be turned away from the Port of Los Angeles and delays of more than an hour at the Port of Long Beach

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  • Raytheon offers airborne radar for India's homeland security

    India is paying more attention — much more attention — to homeland security in the wake of the November 2008 Mumbai bombing; among the first priorities is securing the very long coast lines of the country; Raytheon, already a presence in India, stands to benefit

  • Accord reached on intensified campaign against Somali piracy

    Nine countries around the Gulf of Aden sign an accord enhancing cooperation in the fight against piracy in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden

  • Napolitano issues first action directives

    On her first day in office, new DHS secretary issues five action directives centering on protection of critical infrastructure, transportation, and on better intelligence sharing among federal, state, and local levels of government

  • CBP highlights C-TPAT accomplishments

    The Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program (C-TPAT) was established in 2001 to build cooperative relationships that strengthen and improve international supply chain and U.S. border security; DHS says program is achieving its goals, with more than 8,000 applicants validated since 2003

  • U.S. Coast Guard launches Long Range Identification and Tracking

    New system, connected to the U.S. National Data Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia

  • Congress to address port security

    Chairman of a congressional panel returns from a visit to Honk Kong, Vietnam, and the Philippines and says Congress should make a decision next year on whether or not to move toward a 100 percent container inspection policy

  • New U.S.-bound cargo security rule to go into effect in January

    Current security regulations required importers and shippers to file entry information with U.S. Customs fifteen days before a ship arrives at a U.S. port; new regulations will require that shippers file much more detailed information — and do so before they even load the merchandise onto their ship at the port of origin; U.S. Customs will demand that suspicious cargo, or cargo about which the information is incomplete, not be loaded

  • Somali pirates benefit from a global network of informers

    During the past fifteen years many Somalis have left the country in search of work; many found jobs in major European and Middle eastern ports; some of them now serve as eyes and ears for the pirates back home, providing information about ships’ cargo, routes, and security on board

  • Cruise passengers flown to Dubai to avoid pirates

    The owners of the German cruise ship Columbus decided on a new way to deal with piracy off the coast of Somalia: The 246 passengers were flown to Dubai to await the ship — and the ship itself, with but a skeletal crew, sail at top speed through the dangerous waters of the Gulf of Aden, hoping to avoid being raided by pirates