Y2K Conference Held In New York

"What you're seeing now, is a 'flight to quality,'" said Rear Admiral George Naccara, of the USCG, at the Y2K Luncheon held in New York last month. "Companies are looking to other companies they can work with through the year 2000." The Y2K Luncheon, sponsored by the Maritime Association of the Port of New York and New Jersey, brought together individuals from three main sectors of the shipping industry, to discuss what steps each had made in designing and implementing a plan to ensure computer systems were "Y2K" (or Year 2000) compliant. John Hill, director of the Application Development Division of U.S. Customs Automated Commercial Systems (ACS), spoke first, stating emphatically, "If New Year's Eve were to happen tonight, we'd be ready for it." According to Hill, the initial plan was for approximately 180,000 work-hours of programming and testing. Already, he said, the total had exceeded 200,000 work-hours of effort to reprogram the systems. Close to $12 million in expenditures have been necessary. The project was 100 percent renovated in July 1998 and 100 percent tested in September 1998 for a series of dates, including December 31, 1999; January 1, 2000; December 31, 2000; January 1, 2001 and February 29, 2000. Once the full systems acceptance testing portion of the validation was completed, in which, Customs simulated 15 separate dates, ranging through 2005, the next step was to take the project to its partners. Through June 1999, Customs is offering "open testing" with the trade community, which allows Customs to first, test its equipment in an exchange of information setting, and secondly, to establish the readiness of its partners. Nevertheless, Hill admitted an emergency response plan was set up for Customs, in the event of a failure. Critical Systems Staff will be on hand, and a field staff to "troubleshoot" will be easily accessible. Hill emphasized his gratefulness that the New Years celebration fell on a weekend, since it provided agencies until Monday, January 3, 2000 to find and correct any problems before business and commerce recommenced. Denise Mackie-Smith, chief information and resource management, of Immigration and Naturalization Services, said the INS took a different approach. Beginning in the early 1990s, INS realized much of its equipment was too old to be updated. Budget constraints forced them to take inventory of all components along with the partners they were linked with. The scope of the project head increased, when it was discovered half the systems had already failed. Through a partnership with Dell, the plan shifted from "updating" to "purchasing." All district offices were outfitted with a new fleet of computers and laptops. Now, district offices will connect laptop modems to the headquarter's mainframe through cellphones. The main concern for INS now, said Mackie-Smith, is ensuring the telecommunications components work. She pointed out, despite the fact INS is using new equipment, existing routers and switches are still used. In April, she said, a test of the network and routers will be conducted, to ensure each component of the new flow of information is compliant. RADM Naccara stated "Y2K is not a technical challenge, it's a management, leadership issue." He explained he had seen both ends of the 'Y2K Believer' spectrum, "from the alarmist, to the survivalist to the disbeliever who thinks it's just a ploy to make information technology richer. "Y2K does exist," RADM Naccara said, "for example, they ran simulated date tests on a cruise ship in Miami, while it was tied up. Every stateroom door locked." RADM Naccara said Y2K affected 74 mission-critical systems, and 600 other applications or equipment. A staff of 100 work on Y2K full-time, with countless others aiding in part-time capacity. A conservative estimate of costs totaled $44 million, and was still rising. In some programs, RADM Naccara said, "we had 15 languages of code. We had to bring in people that had retired five years ago, just to get through some of the code that was no longer used." RADM Naccara said the USCG has worked with other agencies - INS, Customs, Dept. of Defense - and has found most government agencies are fixing internal problems first, then looking outside to test the updated systems with partners. The USCG, in fact, is testing every vessel and all equipment that could possible be affected on each vessel. But, it hasn't underestimated the value of identifying the status of its partners, and their endeavors to update to Y2K compliance, especially with since Y2K is not a solely-U.S. domestic issue. "The Marine Transportation System is extremely important to the U.S.," RADM Naccara said. "It carries 95 percent of the cargo coming into the U.S., and 97 percent of that cargo comes on foreign-flag vessels. Almost 55 percent of the oil used in the U.S. is brought on ship, of which the majority are foreign-flagged. "We've contacted suppliers - 130 in all - and asked if they were 'Y2K compliant.' Thirty percent responded and none offered unequivocal affirmations. It's nearly impossible to; honestly, there is no accepted definition for 'Y2K compliance.'" RADM Naccara still pointed out some clear concerns in the Y2K dilemma. For example, the dependence upon interconnectivity makes it impossible for anyone to say, "we're ready," since there is so much reliance upon other partners in trade. Also, he identified the minimal return on investments. "In the USCG, the bill for Y2K will approach $100 million," RADM Naccara said. "There's no return on that. Those dollars weren't spent to increase our productivity or efficiency. It solely went to our efforts to 'comply.'" Also, the dependence the U.S. has on foreign-flagged vessels is also an area of concern for RADM Naccara. "There are 7,700 vessels making 80,000 visits in U.S. ports annually," RADM Naccara said, "Probably 90 percent of that vessel's life is not in our waters. How do we ensure those vessels are Y2K compliant?" RADM Naccara stated the country of Australia has announced it would forbid any vessel from entering its waters without a Y2K certificate. And even more of a concern to RADM Naccara, is the possibility that some critical partners may not even have started Y2K planning. "Right now, if you haven't started Y2K planning, it's too late to worry about getting a budget or a team," RADM Naccara said. "At this point, you need to focus on your contingency plans to offset the problems that are going to occur."-Chris Palermo Mid-South Pleads Guilty to Illegal Discharges Mid-South Terminal Company, a Memphis-based partnership owned in part by Belz Enterprises, pleaded guilty in Federal District Court to illegally discharging thousands of tons of scrap metal into the Mississippi River during January and February, 1995. Under a plea agreement, Mid-South pleaded guilty to one count of negligently discharging pollutants into the river, a misdemeanor, and agreed to pay a fine of $200,000, the maximum allowed under the Clean Water Act. The parties agreed $50,000 would be suspended, based on efforts Mid-South agreed to undertake to clean up President's Island, where the illegal discharges occurred. The proposed plea agreement is subject to the approval of U.S. District Judge Jerome Turner. The successful prosecution of Mid-South is part of a comprehensive, coordinated federal effort, known as the Mississippi River Initiative, to investigate and prosecute those who illegally pollute the river with discharges ranging from raw sewage to industrial waste. Attorney General Janet Reno and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol Browner visited St. Louis, Mo., last year to tour the site of a formerly contaminated area of the river and to announce a series of cases being brought as part of this initiative. The goal of the Mississippi River Initiative is to restore the river to its historic grandeur and help to protect and preserve its surrounding communities. Mid-South loaded scrap metal onto barges at its President's Island facility from a platform 50 to 100 ft. above the barges (depending on water levels). Dump trucks filled with scrap metal backed to the edge of the platform and dumped their contents down an open chute and onto the barges. When the scrap metal landed on the barges, scrap metal "bounced off" the barges and into McKellar Lake, which is part of the Mississippi River. An underwater dive inspection conducted by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency during July 1995 found approximately 9,500 cu. ft. of scrap metal in the Mississippi River underneath the chute used for loading scrap metal onto barges at Mid-South's facility. According to court documents, Mid-South continued dumping scrap metal into the Mississippi River even after USCG officials directed the company to stop any discharges into the river. Mid-South officials agreed to use a fence on the barges to prevent scrap metal from going into the river. The fence was only used on some occasions, however, and, even when it was used, it did not keep all scrap metal from bouncing into the water.