Container ship security is a section that has not been left out during the past two decades of increased terrorism. In facts container ship security has been beefed up since the vessels have many places that could be vulnerable to unintended importation or transportation of hazardous materials. To avoid this from happening security on and around vessel while at ports or harbors has been increased tenfold to avoid any materiel from being loaded on to the vessel.
The cargo in containers is not a major concern since the port responsible for loading the cargo is supposed to conduct a thorough inspection of the container contents before approving the shipment of the container. It should also be sealed and stored correctly before loading. Even during loading the personnel on the vessel will not accept a container that has a broken seal since the integrity of the contents may be compromised.
There is minimal danger posed to the vessel since most of the smugglers want to transport their products from point A to point B some rarely do you hear of any terrorist attack of container ships. Their main objective is to smuggle hazardous material or drugs from place to place.
With this under stood Container Ship Security has been greatly increased reduce incident of this smuggling activity from happening. Usually the smuggler would not require smuggling a container load of materials rather the amount would be considerable smaller. 1-5 kg of hazardous materials or drugs could carry a huge street value and this could be easy to hide on container vessels which are in most cases huge.
The main objective of the huge container ship security presence at vessel while at port or during loading is to try and intercept this from happening since during loading time there the vessel is buzzing with activity and a infiltrator could easily slip on the vessel and stash the illegal cargo without anyone noticing, and the container ship security are responsible for preventing these incidents from happening. There are other reasons that the security is beefed up while at port, reasons like illegal immigrants sneaking and boarding the vessel as it loads or prepared to leave port, of even theft on board the vessel are thing that may should impossible but are a reality in some ports.
These are some of the main factors that require Container ship security, and the security level on the vessel varies since the majority of extra security personnel are mostly hired on contract basis or if the vessel often visits the port than the security is hired on a permanent basis. Either way the vessel has only the bare minimum security personnel while on voyage. This is because the need for security out at sea is almost zero and there is no need to keeping extra personnel if not required on the vessel. Container ship security has been increased to ensure the public’s safety but few seem to understand the implications that would occur if the Container ship security were to be ignored in the 21st century.
Container Ship Security,