22330: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald-Haiti unable to meet international port-security deadlin (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Mon, Jun. 07, 2004

Haiti unable to meet international port-security deadlines

By JACQUELINE CHARLES

Miami Herald


(KRT) - It has been a decade-long routine: Munir Mourra loads up his
200-foot freighter at the Miami River with used cars, old clothes, and sacks
of rice and beans, winds out to sea and sails to Haiti's northern city of
Gonaives.

The river is Mourra's lifeline, a vital link between Haitians here and their
relatives back home.

But come July 1, Mourra may no longer be able to make that four-day voyage
or his claim to "guarantee timely delivery." He fears Haiti's ports will be
unable to meet new international security standards by that deadline.

The fast-approaching requirement is the subject of serious concern in the
$74 billion Florida shipping industry. Pushed by the United States after
Sept. 11, 2001, the measure was passed by the United Nations' International
Maritime Organization in December 2002. Its goal is to prevent terrorism at
sea by tightening security at all ports and on board all vessels.

So far, Florida ports have spent millions of dollars on new lighting and
fencing, ID access cards and surveillance cameras. Shipping lines are
performing background checks on crew members and designating who other than
the captain will be responsible for monitoring the vessel while at sea.

But still an undetermined number of foreign ports are not yet prepared.

"This is a very difficult situation," said Mourra, who sends about 1,000
tons of cargo to Haiti every 20 days. "Everybody is wondering what's going
to happen."

Four weeks before the deadline, local shipping industry insiders say while
they are confident Florida ports are on track to obtain the required
security certificate from the London-based maritime organization, they can't
say the same about their trading partners in the Caribbean and Latin
America.

"It is quite possible trade all over the country could come to a screeching
halt," said Fran Bohnsack, executive director of the Miami River Marine
Group.

Even the large shippers are worried about the potential ripple effects, said
John LaCapra, president of the Florida Ports Council, and Jose Perez-Jones,
senior vice president of Seaboard Marine and president of the
Caribbean-Central American Action group.

"Sixty percent of our trade is with our neighbors to the south," said
LaCapra, whose group has teamed up with the CCAA and Fort Lauderdale-based
SeaSecure to complete a "readiness" assessment of the Caribbean basin before
July 1.

It's not yet clear which ports will be ready, and which will not, they say.
But they believe many will likely be unable to comply right away.

LaCapra said his group was asked by Gov. Jeb Bush to assist the Caribbean
countries in meeting the deadline.

Stephen Bell, general manager of the Caribbean Shipping Association, said
concern about readiness goes both ways. The association includes shippers
and port authorities from throughout the region.

"If I look at the U.S. and in the amount of the ports there, there are
concerns that they are not going to be ready as well," Bell said in a
telephone interview from St. Lucia, where the association met for three days
to discuss port security and other matters.

"I think the Caribbean ports will be 97 percent more than in compliance with
the code by July 1. The state of readiness one might question."

ALTERNATIVE PLANS

With upgrades costing millions of dollars - Fort Lauderdale's Port
Everglades has spent more than $40 million on infrastructure to meet the
rules - some countries have been slow to act, leaving them with a lot to do
in a very short time.

So instead of seeing 100 percent compliance, Bell and others concede there
may be alternative plans such as extra security guards instead of
closed-circuit televisions.

Byron Blake, the CARICOM consultant who has been working on the issue, said
he believes most of the Caribbean ports will be able to meet at least the
most basic requirements of the new measures by July 1. He declined to say
which might not.

K.D. Knight, Jamaica's foreign affairs minister, argues that the regulations
are an unfunded mandate that place a huge economic burden on Caribbean
nations.

And while many can't afford the price tag, they also can't afford to do
nothing because their tourism-driven economies depend heavily on port fees
paid by cruise ships and shippers, and customs duties from imports.

"We are between the devil and the deep blue sea," said Knight, whose
government has spent about $20 million on security upgrades.

Along with Jamaica, preliminary reports indicate that several eastern
Caribbean nations, including Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad &
Tobago, a leading exporter of liquefied natural gas, will be ready. Others,
like Antigua & Barbuda, and other smaller Caribbean islands, are causing
more concern.

Far from ready: Haiti, where almost everything is imported by boat.

"It's not physically possible for them to get it done by July 1," said
Michael Hopkins, vice president of Operations Latin America for Crowley
Liner Services. "They are behind the curve because of the political
situation."

Feeling the sense of urgency, the new port director in Port-au-Prince has
asked for help from the Florida Ports Council and from U.S. Rep. Kendrick
Meek, D-Miami.

Meek, during a visit to Haiti last month, saw some of what is lacking:
lighting, fencing, locks, basic security.

But Port-au-Prince, says Mourra, is just one port. There are many others in
Gonaives, St. Marc, Port-de-Paix and other Haitian cities.

"We have asked to let the private sector help. We know the government has no
resources," he said.

HAITI PORTS

Danielle Saint Lot, Haiti's minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, said
an evaluation of both the Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien ports was recently
completed by SeaSecure to determine what needs to be done.

"We don't have the means to work on all the ports," she said.

The U.S. Coast Guard, which has been working with several foreign ports in
addition to local ports to help them get ready, has been adamant about its
position: It will follow the law, which includes preventing ships from
entering U.S. waters if there are concerns.

"The goal is to bring a ship with no stowaways, no contraband, no terrorists
on board and no weapons of mass destruction," said U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr.
Nancy Goodridge.

While the Coast Guard doesn't have the resources to stop every vessel, it
will stop those that have failed to put in their own security measures, or
those traveling from a noncertified port.

"There will be a range of possible remedies and sanctions for any vessel
coming from any noncompliant port," she said. "We could allow them to come
in and require them to have a security guard. We could require the master to
certify he has searched his vessel or we could do the boarding ourselves.
... If we have reason to believe there is a security risk to the U.S., we
could prevent it from coming in."

Some shippers fear that captains may begin cherry picking which ports they
visit.

Thousands of people who depend on remittances from the United States,
brought in by boat, could find themselves shut off because the ships have
stopped coming.

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