US wants ships within 2000 miles to check in

8.25am

WASHINGTON - Eager to expand its reach in the war on terror, the United States wants new global rules to make all ships within 3200km of a country's shores identify themselves and give their location, the head of the Coast Guard said on Tuesday.

Under current international tracking regulations, ships must be equipped with an identification system by December 2004 that broadcasts their position and other information when they come within about 80km of a country's coast.

"We're working with the International Maritime Organisation to have a long-range tracking requirement for all commercial vessels, so up to 2000 miles (3200km) from the coast they'd have to be broadcasting (their identification information)," said Adm. Thomas Collins, commandant of the US Coast Guard.

If the 3200km extension goes into effect, ships in the Caribbean, much of Central America, parts of South America and Canada, as well as swathes of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans would have to broadcast identification information, which US authorities could pick up.

"We are working closely together on what should be the international requirement that we impose on international shippers, what the technical dimensions and standards of that should be, and then require them to implement it by a certain date," Collins told Reuters in an interview.

He gave no details on a possible timeframe.

Collins said the long-range tracking system was one of many ongoing efforts to improve US maritime security.

He said other parts of the Coast Guard's maritime defence strategy including getting better information on incoming cargo, vessels and people, increasing the number of Coast Guard's ships and personnel in ports and waterways and honing their ability to respond to threats.

For example, the Coast Guard now requires 96 hours notice of a ship's arrival, up from 24 hours previously. This gives the agency more time to vet information on the cargo and crew. Since September 11, the Coast Guard has also been given access to US intelligence which it had not been before.

The Coast Guard is in charge of protecting US ports, domestic waters and 153,000km of shoreline.

Over 7500 foreign ships carrying more than 14 million containers dock at the 361 US ports each year, but less than 10 per cent of the containers are inspected on arrival.

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, politicians, officials and analysts say they fear a seaborne attack or strike against US harbors. They say militants may try to use the sea to smuggle in arms, chemicals, weapons of mass destruction or people to attack the United States.

Collins said US officials knew Osama bin Laden's militant al Qaeda network -- whose suspected members have been charged with the attack on the US warship Cole in Yemen in 2000 -- was interested in expanding its ability to attack US maritime interests.

"We know that as part of their bag of tricks they have discussed the maritime focus, but we have no current, specific information that there is any maritime target as part of a current plot," Collins said.

- REUTERS