Iridium, Dutch Firm Team On Maritime Container Security SystemIridium, Dutch Firm Team On Maritime Container Security System

A Dutch firm plans to use the Iridium Satellite system to monitor shipping containers remotely to reduce the threat of terrorists tampering with those containers.

ZOCA Container Security BV is preparing a trial with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said Jaap van den Hoek, ZOCA managing director.

“We want to set a standard for containers security,” said van den Hoek. “We’ve chosen Iridium because it has virtually 100 percent coverage.”

ZOCA has developed a proprietary handheld-based system that communicates with Iridium’s 66-satellite network. The ZOCA system controls container security by locking and unlocking devices remotely.

The handheld device, about the size of a typical bar code scanner, plugs into a connection on containers and transmits a security code to a central computer at ZOCA’s global processing center. Once the security code and other coordinates are confirmed, permission is granted to open or close the container.

The vulnerability of shipping containers has increasingly alarmed government officials. Earlier this month, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine., and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., both expressed fears over container security, citing the “overseas segment of the supply chain” as the biggest problem.

“The possibility that weapons of mass destruction could be imported into our country constitutes a worst case scenario,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement. “Port security must continue to be a top homeland security priority.”

While antiterrorism measures are the most important concern of governments and industry working to make shipping containers safe, van den Hoek noted that shipping has also suffered costly delays recently.

“We also want to secure the timetable again,” he said, noting that maritime shipping to the U.S. has suffered delays since the 9/11World Trade Center attacks and the delays have been expensive.

He said ZOCA has developed a “sturdy” device with proprietary software after the company realized that GSM and GPS technologies weren’t available everywhere like satellite coverage. ZOCA decided to make its own mobile device when the firm realized standard cell phones and PDAs were too fragile for the service.

Van den Hoek said ZOCA has successfully carried out trials with several European companies that ship containers to the U.S. He hopes the system will be in commercial use by the end of the year.

The setting of standards for shipping container security is particularly important, van den Hoek said, adding that ZOCA and other firms working on container safety have been in constant touch with the International Standards Organization (ISO) to develop a standard.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection unit is developing its Container Security Initiative, targeting inspections of containers overseas before they arrive in the U.S. ZOCA believes it can be effective in meeting those requirements as well as for the DHS’ Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism unit, which permits companies to make fewer inspections if they have taken voluntary provisions to secure their containers.