Belgium and the US have agreed to co-ordinate security at Belgian ports to detect illicit trafficking in nuclear and radioactive material. The US government will invest € 11.25m in the next three years. Belgium will initially waive € 1.02m in taxes for port contractors and invest in personnel and equipment maintenance.
Harbour personnel in any office can identify and monitor all port traffic, 24 hours a day over their internal LAN.
About 80 Belgian Customs officials will be deployed to screen all traffic, regardless of its destination, at all entrances and exits of the port's container terminal.
Antwerp will be ready by the end of 2006 and other ports such as Zeebrugge by the end of 2007.
