WASHINGTON, D.C.--U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Robert C. Bonner and Japanese Customs and Tariff Bureau announced today that the Container Security Initiative (CSI) is expected to be operational at the port of Yokohama for cargo containers destined for U.S. ports on March 24.

CBP and the Japanese Customs and Tariff Bureau sealed a CSI declaration of principles on September 26, 2002.

The port of Yokohama is the 10th CSI port to become operational. It joins the already operational CSI ports of Rotterdam, LeHavre, Bremerhaven, Hamburg, and Antwerp in Europe, Singapore in Asia, and Vancouver, Montreal, and Halifax in Canada.

"CSI is essential to securing global trade against terrorist exploitation. The CSI security blanket is now expanding and strengthening as it encompasses the port of Yokohama," said Commissioner Bonner. "We are getting CSI implemented in all of the ports that have signed on. We will continue to deploy teams to other participating ports as quickly as possible."

As part of the CSI program, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has deployed a small team of 4 CBP officers stationed at the port of Yokohama to work targeting cargo containers destined for the United States. Japanese Customs officials, working with CBP officers, will be responsible for screening any containers identified as a potential terrorist risk.

"CSI is also reciprocal. CBP offers CSI-participating countries the opportunity to send their customs officers to our major ports to target cargo that is exported to their country via ocean containers," Commissioner Bonner said. "CBP will also share its intelligence and pre-arrival information on a bilateral basis with its CSI partners. Sharing of information is intended to be a reciprocal process."

Japanese customs personnel will be stationed at the port of Los Angeles/Long Beach on April 7, 2003, targeting sea containers destined for Japan.

The CSI ports of Tokyo, Nagoya, and Kobe will also become operational over the next few months.

The ports of Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe and Yokohama are among the top 20 ports of the world. Nearly eight percent of all sea containers arriving in the U.S. are shipped from these four Japanese ports.

CSI is an initiative that was developed by U.S. Customs, now U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Now within the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is continuing to implement CSI at major ports around the world. Under the CSI program, a small number of CBP officers are deployed to work with host nation counterparts to target high-risk cargo containers. Its purpose is to protect containerized shipping from exploitation by terrorists. Containerized shipping is a critical component of global trade because most of the international trade moves or is transported in cargo containers.

To date, 18 of the top 20 ports have agreed to join CSI and are at various stages of implementation. These ports are points of passage for approximately two-thirds of cargo containers shipped to the United States. They include (by container cargo volume): Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Rotterdam, Pusan, Bremerhaven, Tokyo, Genoa, Yantian, Antwerp, Nagoya, Le Havre, Hamburg, La Spezia, Felixstowe, Algeciras, Kobe, and Yokohama.

CSI consists of four core elements: 1) using intelligence and automated information to identify and target high-risk containers; (2) pre-screening those containers identified as high-risk, at the port of departure, before they arrive at U.S. ports; (3) using detection technology to quickly pre-screen high-risk containers; and (4) using smarter, tamper-evident containers.

Globally, over 48 million full cargo containers move between major seaports each year. Each year, more than 6 million containers arrive in the United States by ship.

"Now that we have nearly achieved our goal for CSI at most of the top 20 ports, we will be expanding CSI to other ports that ship substantial amounts of cargo to the United States, and that have the infrastructure and technology in place to participate in the program," Commissioner Bonner said.

Most recently, the governments of Malaysia and Sweden have joined CSI. In Europe, CBP is looking to expand CSI to at least 11 additional ports.

The CSI initiative supports the "Cooperative G8 Action on Transport Security" adopted by G8 in June 2002.

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