US Senate rejects 100% box scanning
A push to force scanning of all US-bound containers was beaten back in the US Senate yesterday. As the upper house considers a bill to fully implement suggestions of the 9/11 Commission, New York democrat Chuck Schumer introduced an amendment to mandate the 100% box check. That amendment was debated through most of the day yesterday and then defeated on a 58-38 rollcall vote at early evening. Maine Sen Susan Collins – who was a principal author of the SAFE Ports law that set up pilot projects for container scanning – drove the stake through the amendment’s heart with a motion to table. Maritime interests in Washington had watched the proposal closely, especially after a similar measure for full box scanning was approved by the House of Representatives in its version of the 9/11 bill. But as forecast to Fairplay by World Shipping Council President Chris Koch, the Senate exercised better judgment and rejected the Schumer proposal. Proponents of the concept will have one final chance to insert the controversial language when the House and Senate versions of the bill are reconciled in a conference committee.
