20 per cent of containers scanned at ports

OF every 100 shipping containers, some 20 are scanned at the port of entry, Parliament’s Joint Select Committee (JSC) on Legal and Financial Affairs, chaired by Hazel Thompson-Ahye, has been told. Some technocrats were saying this is too high.

In a virtual sitting on Friday, the JSC interviewed public officials on the ease of doing business in TT, including Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) chief technical and operations adviser Randall Karim.

Hazel Thompson-Ahye queried an MTI documentary submission to the JSC which said the proportion of containers being scanned was too high, reading, “Excessive number of physical inspections at border entry points is a gap to be addressed.”

She challenged this in light of a past incarnation of this JSC probing food fraud having learnt that 20 per cent of containers were scanned, a seemingly small proportion.

“How do you reconcile those two things?” she asked.

Karim replied that 20 per cent was indeed too high.

He said, “If you look at the international indicators and surveys, the best practice is actually less than five per cent needing scanning, through the implementation of modern risk-management procedures."

He said modern technology was used "to do a specific targeting of containers.”

Karim added that physical inspection of containers was only part of a process.

“After a container is scanned, it is sent to some importer’s premises for further scrutiny.

“So 20 per cent might sound like it’s not going to have such a big impact, but it is not (about) the number of containers (scanned). It is (about) the volume of trade affected by that number of containers, and of course the post-scanning processes that take place.

“That 20 per cent of containers might actually be accounting for 40 or 50 or 60 per cent of food. So it is not only about looking at only the number of containers scanned but also what is the volume of trade affected.”

Port Authority chairman Lyle Alexander told Newsday such details were fully the remit of the Customs and Excise Division, but he offered some general observations.

“The scanning of containers and so on is a customs function. They’re the ones who do the scanning of containers in and out of the port. So I really can’t give you a definitive response to that.

“What I can give you is a kind of industry-type number and will agree that 20 per cent is actually high...and that’s just from my own knowledge of the industry and how things are going.”

Asked if he thought the port needs to strike a balance between a prompt throughput of containers and an efficient inspection regime, Alexander again said that is decided by the Customs and Excise Division, presumably weighing up a number of factors.

Newsday was unable to contact the division.