Expedited Cargo Screening a Boon to Shippers and Security

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agency has recently expanded its expedited clearance program for oceangoing freight, the Advanced Qualified Unloading Approval (AQUA Lane) program.  This expansion should allow for Customs and Border Patrol to focus resources on more high-risk cargo, while allowing a faster turnover rate at ports.

AQUA allows qualified shipping lines to apply for expedited screening a day before arrival, which lets the ship begin unloading as soon as it docks, rather than waiting for a customs officer to come aboard the vessel and give clearance. In order to qualify for participation in AQUA, carriers and domestic terminals must be classified as low risk under the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program (C-TPAT).

After the success of trials in Baltimore, Port Everglades, New Orleans, and Oakland, AQUA is now offered in Newark, Savannah, Miami, Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Seattle. And in mid-December Boston, Philadelphia, Wilmington Delaware, Wilmington North Carolina, Charleston, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Houston, San Juan, and Honolulu will be added to the program.

This is good news for shipping lines, port facilities, and customs personnel. For cargo carriers it speeds up unloading, reducing time spent in port and docking fees spent as a result. For ports this frees up additional berthing space, increasing the number of ships and cargos they can take on. And from a security standpoint, the upside is that this will allow customs to focus more resources on higher-risk areas, rather than spreading itself thin screening every ship.

The latter approach is one that Customs and Homeland Security have been seeking to avoid for several years. In 2007 concerns over nuclear proliferation and fears of a terrorist “dirty bomb” led Congress to mandate that the Department of Homeland Security scan all cargo from foreign ports with radiation detectors by the end of 2012. However, this proved virtually unworkable due to the cost of such equipment and the sheer volume of cargo to be screened–roughly 20 million shipping containers in 2015.

Instead, Department of Homeland Security secretaries Janet Napolitano and Jeh Johnson issued temporary waivers exempting Homeland Security from the requirement until it was practical to implement. The AQUA program should provide a more long-term solution to this regulatory impasse.