CSI Operational in Livorno, Italy

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Robert C. Bonner and Italian Customs Director General Mario Andrea Guaiana announced the Port of Livorno as the 33rd operational Container Security Initiative (CSI) port. The stand-up of Livorno completes the expansion of the Container Security Initiative in Italy.

CSI developed along the guidelines set forth in the declaration of principles signed in November 2002 between Commissioner Bonner and Italian Customs Director General Mario Andrea Guaiana. CSI has been operational at the ports of Genoa and LaSpezia since June 2003. Most recently, the port of Naples became operational on September 30, 2004, and the port of Gioia Tauro on October 29, 2004.

"The primary purpose of CSI is to protect the global trading system and the trade lanes between CSI ports and the U.S. By expanding CSI to the port of Livorno, the government of Italy is helping to make a safer, more secure world trading system," said Commissioner Bonner. "CSI is essential in securing containerized shipping, an indispensable but vulnerable link in the chain of global trade."

Italian Customs Director General Mario Andrea Guaiana said, "The declaration of principles addresses a common objective to enhance the security of ocean container shipments since this form of transport is vulnerable to the terrorist threat. The effective cooperation existing between the U.S and Italy at the ports of Genoa, La Spezia, and Naples and the positive expertise developed during the year of operation of CSI in Italy are a matter of reference for the expansion to the ports of Gioia Tauro and Livorno." Director General Guaiana added:

“Italian Customs and the Guardia di Finanza recently entered into an operational protocol accord to jointly achieve better preventive analysis in the Italian ports that are part of CSI. The accord is aimed at identifying high-risk shipments and ultimately combating, in a more effective manner, the international terrorist threat.”

CSI did not exist before 9/ll. It was proposed by Commissioner Bonner and launched in January 2002. CSI has been accepted globally as a bold and revolutionary initiative to secure maritime cargo shipments against the terrorist threat. This initiative will continue to expand to strategic locations around the world.

Under CSI, CBP has entered into bi-lateral partnerships with other governments to identify high-risk cargo containers and to pre-screen them before they are loaded on vessels destined for the United States. Today, governments representing 21 countries have signed up to implement CSI.

The World Customs Organization (WCO), the European Union (EU), and the G8 support CSI expansion and have adopted resolutions implementing CSI security measures introduced at ports throughout the world.

CSI is now operational in 33 ports in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. The operational ports include: Halifax, Montreal, and Vancouver, Canada; Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Le Havre and Marseilles, France; Bremerhaven and Hamburg, Germany; Antwerp and Zeebrugge, Belgium; Singapore; Yokohama, Tokyo, Nagoya, and Kobe, Japan; Hong Kong; Göteborg, Sweden; Felixstowe, Liverpool, Southampton, Thamesport, and Tilbury, United Kingdom; Genoa, La Spezia, Naples, Gioia Tauro, and Livorno, Italy; Busan, Korea; Durban, South Africa; Port Klang and Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia; Piraeus, Greece; Algeciras, Spain; and Laem Chabang, Thailand. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the unified boarder agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control, and protection of our Nation’s borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.