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Canada Steps Up Marine Security By Issuing New ID Cards to Port Workers

Posted on: Thursday, 24 May 2007, 18:00 CDT

By JERED STUFFCO

TORONTO (CP) - Transport Canada announced Thursday it is creating mandatory identity cards for workers at the country's major ports in a bid to step up maritime security and combat potential terrorist threats.

The cards will be implemented in Vancouver, Halifax and Montreal in December, with other ports following next year.

The Marine Transportation Security Clearance Plan also includes background checks for port workers who have access to secure areas like loading docks and fuelling stations.

"We can't rest on our laurels - we have to strengthen the existing layers of security that we put in place," said Laureen Kinney, director general of marine security at Transport Canada.

"The security layers need to be built, and they need to be much more rigorous."

Similar guidelines for airport workers who enter secure areas have been in effect since 1985.

The new initiative is part of a five-year, $115-million federal program to get Canada's ports up to international security standards.

However, implementing the new security procedures will be costly, and the federal cash doesn't go far enough, said Melanie Costley, security manager of the Vancouver Port Authority.

"We could always use more money," she said, noting that the Vancouver port just spent $1 million on four thermal eye cameras capable of spotting intruders at night.

"The $115 million they offered for the first time around was a good idea, but it's not enough."

Angus Armstrong, the Toronto Port Authority's security chief, applauded the new ID cards as essential for increasing shipping efficiency.

Armstrong said truckers currently must show different cards for each port they enter, but with the new system, one card will work for all ports.

He said the universal card will allow truckers easier access to many different ports and will cut down on shipping times.

"Thousands and thousands of trucks are coming in and out of the port, so we really want to stress ... this universal card so that the truck drivers don't have to get 30 different cards."

However, he noted that federal funding should continue as technology improves.

"We're going to press the government for continued security funding, as we all have to keep improving."

So far, $108.5 million of funding has been allocated for upgrades.

The identity card comes on the heels of a recent Senate report which blasted security at Canada's 19 ports and said a potential terrorist attack could "lay waste" to a North American target.

"Any one of these containers could contain chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or explosive devices designed to lay waste to a large Canadian or U.S. target," the report said.

Source: Canadian Press

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