The U.S. Customs Container Security Initiative (CSI) is a program launched by Commissioner Robert Bonner, on January 17 in a speech given at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. CSI secures an indispensable, but vulnerable, link in the chain of global trade: the oceangoing sea container. Customs plays a unique role in processing maritime trade, an ever-expanding stream of commerce, while continually protecting America from terrorism and crime. · The volume of trade moving through the nation’s 102 seaports has nearly doubled since 1995. · In 2001, U.S. Customs processed more than 214,000 vessels and 5.7 million sea containers. · Approximately 90 percent of the world’s cargo moves by container. · Globally over 200 million cargo containers move between major seaports each year.