The theft of automobiles in developed nations for export to customers in underdeveloped countries has prompted customs officials to consider inspecting the contents of export containers. It will likely become imperative over the next few years that inspections of export containers become standard practice at major international ports.
Introduction
Customs departments in most countries monitor the contents of import containers arriving from overseas. They rarely if ever inspect the contents of export containers destined for overseas ports. The epidemic of theft of upscale automobiles in developed Western nations is causing major economic loss in those nations. Police forces and customs departments are under pressure to intercept export containers that carry automobiles. However, most Western police forces and customs agencies are presently ill-equipped to rapidly and accurately inspect the contents of thousands of export containers that arrive daily at major ports.
The epidemic of car theft for export has imposed an urgency on Western customs agencies to develop methods by which to rapidly and accurately inspect the contents of containers for export. Export containers arrive at major ports by rail, by truck and in some cases, by maritime transport. New technologies that rapidly inspect the contents of containers carried by trucks, are presently being tested at road-based international borders. Drivers are required move trucks at low speed through a designated inspection corridor where X-Ray technology rapidly scans the container contents and transmits an image to a screen.
New Inspection Technology
While X-Ray technology designed to scan the interior of shipping containers is slowly being introduced at land border crossings, such crossings only process a fraction of the volume of containers that pass through a major maritime port. Future inspection of containers at ports would likely need to involve the combination of X-Ray technology and artificial intelligence programming to assist customs inspection officers carry out their duties. The volume of containers arriving at and leaving from major ports requires quick and accurate evaluation of the contents of each container, a task that would otherwise overwhelm human customs officers.
The introduction of artificial intelligence offers the possibility of being able to process massive numbers of containers per hour. There is future potential for advanced AI technology to divert suspicious containers aside for further inspection by human officers. The challenge of introducing AI to customs inspection involves the initial programming to accurately recognize and identify the contents of containers, as well as to make accurate comparison with the manifest submitted to customs officials for each container. Design would need to ensure that AI expands its initial programming to further enhance its future performance.
Cost Issues
Car theft syndicates are selective as to the makes and models of vehicles they acquire for overseas export. They consistently target upscale vehicles that maximizes their earnings, while causing considerable loss for the original private owners and even automobile dealerships. The volume of upscale car theft has caused rapid increases in automobile insurance rates as insurance companies are expected to cover the cost of a replacement vehicle. At the present time, the high initial cost of X-Ray container inspection technology enhanced with AI controlled programming, has delayed investment in and installation of such technology at major ports.
There is the question as to who will cover the cost of investing in AI-controlled X-Ray container inspection technology, given that the insurance industry presently covers the financial loss of car theft. One option is for governments to increase taxation rates on high-end and upscale automobiles that are at higher risk of becoming theft targets for export to overseas markets. Another option would be for governments to charge an inspection tariff for each container that is cleared for export to overseas destinations. Governments already impose import tariffs on the contents of containers that arrive from overseas.
International Cooperation
The future potential for AI-controlled X-Ray container inspection technology could involve recording the number of each container, the manifest of its contents, its point of origin and destination port, and an image of the contents. Prior to a ship sailing from the port of origin, the software would transmit a record of all containers aboard the ship to customs departments at the destination port. Overseas customs departments would further evaluate the contents of the containers while the ship is at sea, sailing toward their port. Upon arrival, some containers would be redirected for more comprehensive inspection.
Such cooperation and advanced inspection of containers would increase the speed at which containers pass through future customs inspections, reducing overall transit duration between arrival at port and lading aboard ship. Inspection at the port of origin would allow container ships to sail to ports with minimal customs inspection capability. While the ship was at sea, customs officials at a different location and assisted by AI would have evaluated the contents of all containers aboard ship and identified suspicious containers to be diverted for further inspection after the ship arrives.
Conclusions
Customs departments in many nations currently use inspection methods of an earlier era, which worked very well during periods when trade volumes were a fraction of modern trade volumes. Criminal elements have taken advantage of changes in international trade that have allowed for easy exports of stolen vehicles. Players involved in underground business activity have for decades developed innovative importation methods that assure commercial success, often bypassing customs departments altogether as they move contraband across international borders. However, the physical weight and volume of some contraband requires transportation involving shipping containers.
The installation of inspection technology capable of rapidly and accurately identifying the content of shipping containers offers the possibility of greatly reducing theft of high-end automobiles for overseas export - as well as the monetary loss for local economies associated with such activity. AI-directed X-Ray inspection technology offers the possibility of streamlining future container-based international trade by allowing overseas customs departments to inspect container contents prior to the arrival of a ship at port. However, the introduction of such technology risks prompting the criminal element to redirect their activities to other, more lucrative areas.
Source: The Maritime Executive
