AUSTRALIANS UP SECURITY SPEND
The Australian government will spend a further US$71.08m on expanding its existing CCTV network at national ports. At present, some 32 ports have CCTV coverage.
He adds that ships could also be used by terrorists as delivery systems or even sunk in main river channels. “You could imagine somewhere like the river leading up to the port of Houston. If someone sunk a large vessel within that channel, considering that I believe 7080% of US petroleum goes up that river it would cause an absolutely horrendous economic impact.” As a result of this perceived threat the IMO drew up the International Ship and Port Facility (ISPS) Code, but is enough being done to prevent terrorists striking the maritime sector?
The aim is to expand this to cover 63 facilities.
$33.45m is also to be spent on more Customs agents to enable up to 25% more containers to be inspected, bringing the annual number of boxes checked to more than 100,000. Henceforth, all dock workers will have to agree to background checks before signing employment contracts, while all will wear photo IDs.
