Ports getting tough on ships

The U.S. Coast Guard barred more than 19 ships from entering U.S. ports and detained dozens more during the Fourth of July weekend under strict new U.N. terrorism prevention rules that took effect Thursday.

From July 1 through yesterday, 19 of the 1,278 ships entering ports in the United States were prohibited from mooring and 30 were detained in ports under the U.N. agreement.

Many ports around the globe, however, continued to let vessels pass without inspection.

“The foreign vessels detained or denied entry failed to comply with the requirements of the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code,” the Coast Guard said.

A spokeswoman said detained vessels are anchored or held at port.

“The bottom line is they are told not to go anywhere,” Jolie Shifflet said. Boats that are barred are told to go “somewhere else” and not allowed to dock.

The Coast Guard did not provide specifics except to say that the vessels “failed to comply with the new security requirements.”

All were foreign-flag vessels approaching ports that included Baltimore, New York, New Orleans, Miami, Houston, Providence, R.I., and the islands of San Juan, Puerto Rico and Guam.

One cruise ship, the Carnival Victory, was detained as it departed New York and ordered to comply with unspecified rules. It was allowed to continue the same day.

The majority of ships were 500-gross-ton vessel bulk carriers, which Mrs. Shifflet said have a history of not being in compliance with international safety and environmental requirements.

“It was not a big surprise to us that they made up the majority of vessels having problems with the new security requirements,” she said.

The code standardizes maritime security among 147 governments. Ships carrying more than 500 tons and all ports are required to plan for terrorist attack or infiltration under the agreement.

The United States has 361 ports. Nineteen were closed or restricted during the weekend.

The United States is vigorously enforcing the new rules, while across the globe many ports turned a blind eye and did not enforce penalties to avoid obstructing commerce, TaiwanNews.com reported.

Major container ports in Asia had anti-terrorism plans in place by last week’s deadline but ignored vessels arriving from noncompliant ports, the report said. About half of the world’s ports are in compliance, and the United States is considered a litmus test of the code’s effectiveness.

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