Security & Safety Briefs - Nov. 3 - Nov. 9
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The Latest Headlines:
- Port of N.Y.-N.J. to Test Container-Tracking System
- ATA Wants Truckers’ FAST Cards to be Acceptable at Border
- S.C. Commercial Accident Rate Rises
- DOT Wants Closer Track Inspections; Rail Safety Improves
- California Congressman Calls for U.S.-Mexico Fence
- ATA Wants Truckers’ FAST Cards to be Acceptable at Border
Port of N.Y.-N.J. to Test Container-Tracking System
The Port of New York-New Jersey has contracted to test a system which provides continuous container monitoring, tracking and security reporting world-wide.The port has contracted to test the Global Sentinel system, which will transmit, via cellular and local wireless networks, immediate reporting of locations, conditions and security status of containers on a continuous basis.
The port hopes to use the system to evaluate at least 1,000 container loads over the next year. Transport Topics
ATA Wants Truckers’ FAST Cards to be Acceptable at Border
American Trucking Associations said it submitted comments to the government Monday on the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which seeks greater monitoring of people crossing the U.S. border.ATA is requesting that truck drivers’ Free and Secure Trade, or FAST, cards and other trucking industry security credentials be accepted by border agencies as the equivalent to a U.S. passport.
The initiative, by the Departments of State and Homeland Security, proposes that all U.S. citizens crossing its international borders have passports.
Canadian and Mexican citizens also would be required to carry their passports to gain entrance into the United States. Transport Topics
S.C. Commercial Accident Rate Rises
Wrecks of commercial vehicles in South Carolina increased 39% from 2001 to 2004, while the number of officers who enforce truck safety laws has remained the same, the Associated Press reported.In 2004, 3,147 wrecks of commercial vehicles were reported in the state, compared to 2,264 wrecks in 2001, according to the State Transport Police, AP said.
Commercial vehicles include everything from pickup trucks that haul cargo to large passenger vans to 18-wheelers.
In comparison, the number of wrecks involving all vehicles over the same four-year period increased 10%, to 110,029, according to Public Safety Department data, AP reported. Transport Topics
DOT Wants Closer Track Inspections; Rail Safety Improves
The Department of Transportation will require railroads to inspect certain types of track "joint bars" more frequently using new uniform standards to help prevent train derailments, DOT Secretary Norman Mineta said Friday.An interim final rule states that railroads must inspect joint bars on tracks for visible or detectable cracks, loose or missing bolts, other damage and evidence of any rail movement, DOT said.
Meanwhile, data released by the Federal Railroad Administration show an 11.6% increase in overall rail safety — as measured by the train accident rate — for the first eight months of 2005 compared with the same period last year.
Employee injury rates were down 16.1% from the same period last year, which had been the safest year for employees in the history of the railroad industry, the Association of American Railroads said. Transport Topics
California Congressman Calls for U.S.-Mexico Fence
A California congressman has proposed building a fence along the entire 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, a plan that could cost billions and that some critics say would do little to stop illegal immigration, the Associated Press reported.Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), who chairs of the House Armed Services Committee, wants to create a two-layer reinforced fence with lighting and sensors from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, a 100-yard border zone to the north of the barriers, and 25 new ports of entry, AP reported.
Currently, most of the westernmost 14-mile stretch of the border is lined with parallel fencing and there is secure fencing at other vulnerable points, but long stretches of the border are protected only by patchy barbed wire or nothing at all, AP said. Transport Topics
