Horizon’s Raymond Urges Industry to Ensure Security From the Beginning

Chuck Raymond, President, Chairman and CEO of Horizon Lines insists container security couldn¹t become a reality unless there is "a coordination of all parties participating in cargo movement." "With the question of information integrity now in the forefront, how do we further secure the supply chain when we cannot necessarily trust all the data being provided?" asked Raymond. "All shipment information should be required from the point of the shipment’s origin in advance of container stuffingS. The location where the goods are initially stuffed into a container to begin their journey is the initial point at which shipment information should be captured." Raymond spoke at the National Defense Industrial Association Transportation Security Administration Conference held in Charleston, S.C., this week. Raymond noted that more than six million containers enter U.S. seaports annually aboard more than 5,000 ships from greater than 50,000 port calls. "Can we be sure today that a shipper will not falsely declare a shipment’s contents and enable a container to explode inside one of our seaports or largest cities?" he said. Every transportation mode "has to have the capability to provide status information relative to their portion of the supply chain origin through to destination. Intermodal, ocean and terminal operators/stevedores must consistently provide their information on a real-time basis," said Mr. Raymond. "The shipper, therefore, bears the responsibility for one of the most important parts of cargo security the first piece of cargo information," he added. "Some shippers are early adopters of the technologies and processes necessary to shelter our nation. These organizations are looking at electronic seals and tags, warehousing systems, and even access controls at their facilities." "The migration to full supply chain security involves the tight integration of operational information with data coming from electronic devices, and subsequently married to planned and actual cargo events. This creates a real-time "window" into 24/7 cargo status regardless of transportation mode or location," said Chuck Raymond. "Risk assessment is easily enabled because complete visibility has been achieved, and alerts have been triggered for proactive responses. The proactive steps have been taken to prevent a catastrophic event with human and global economic impact." He closed: "The integrity of those six million containers arriving in US ports is challenging, but not impossible. Because, like everything else, it all starts at the beginning."