Commercial Cargo Pilot Seeks U.S.-Mexico Security

The many years of concern about the commercial Mexican-U.S. cross-border practices which slow down the movement of cross-border cargo and security implications, especially because of the drug cartel involvement in these movements, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) concern for accuracy in cargo identification and their own need to know how efficiently cargo moves through Customs facilities, there is now taking place a cross-border project developed, directed and funded by the private sector to address these concerns.

Because of the importance of security, visibility, control and efficiency in international shipments and its importance to the United States, six major U.S. firms who have agreed to be identified have decided to offer a demonstration project to address these and other CBP concerns and solve any problems encountered in commercial cross-border movements. Orbcomm, GlobalTrak an Orbcomm company, and Powers International, have joined together with the international shipper Bridgestone Tires, and their U.S. motor carrier, Landstar to demonstrate solutions to these serious land ports-of-entry. Another motor carrier agreeing to participate with their shippers is Royal Express &Trucking, Inc. The project’s outcomes should also benefit movement to and through our seaports.

Orbcomm delivers global satellite and cellular connectivity services, devices and web applications. Market analyst Berg Insight’s May 2013 Container Tracking and Security Report stated, “The satellite communication provider ORBCOMM has after the recent acquisitions of StarTrak, PAR LMS and GlobalTrak emerged as the largest vendor of intermodal container tracking solutions featuring GPRS or satellite communication.”

GlobalTrak provides fuel security and telematics and was selected for a project that tracks and secures U.S. Government fuel deliveries in Afghanistan. It is the leading provider to the U.S. military that operates the largest supply chain in the world, tracking and securing tens of thousands of trips into Afghanistan.

Powers International is the patent holder of the worldwide chain-of-custody system which through the cooperation of GlobalTrak and Orbcomm documents the loading of cargo into its shipping container at origin, by identifying the individually who attests to the cargo’s description and quantity, the conveyance number and any manifest data needed by the stakeholders including Customs Authorities, the monitoring of the conveyance movement, and the reporting of any breach into the conveyance (container or trailer) and the geographical location of the conveyance at the time of breach and even the monitoring of the container or trailer when it moves off its intended course of travel to destination.

Finally the Powers International, process requires the identification of a trusted individual to open the conveyance at destination and verify the cargo and its quantity.

Powers International and GlobalTrak have confirmed the support of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and CBP as observers and reviewers of the cross-border project’s accomplishments and benefits. Both Bridgestone Tires and its carrier agreed to participate. The project is taking place from a Mexican origin in the interior of Mexico through the ports cities of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico and Laredo, Texas, the largest U.S. land port-of-entry on the Southern border to an interior location within the United States.

The project will provide 100% monitoring of the shipping container’s movement to include its arrival at Aduana (Mexican Customs), and CBP and the times of departure from these port facilities, any opening or intrusion into it and where the intrusion took place, even “geo-fencing” or off-course movement of the conveyance with automatic reporting by the conveyance’s container security device (CSD) to a national control center, the Information Management Bureau (IMB) where all electronic data will be maintained and disseminated to appropriate stakeholders for their use. Additionally, the project will offer specific benefits to the control of in-bond movements by informing CBP of the conveyance location and whether the bonded container was opened within the commercial territory of the United States, not to mention asset recovery and intelligence mapping benefits of these controlled movements. Finally, the results of this project aim to provide bottom-line financial benefits as a result of faster and more efficient movement through the supply chain accommodating CBP’s trade facilitation efforts.