Security tighter at U.S. ports

WASHINGTON — The Coast Guard will board every foreign-flagged vessel that sails into a U.S. port beginning Thursday to check whether it is complying with rules aimed at foiling terrorists.

A maritime treaty signed by about 150 countries requires each ship to have a security officer, alarm system, automatic identification system, access restrictions to the engine room and bridge, and a method of checking IDs of people who board. Each ship must have a certificate signed by the country that flags it saying it is in compliance with the treaty.

Rear Adm. Larry Hereth said that 700 Coast Guardsmen, including about 500 reservists, will be part of the effort to board all ships as they enter the ports.

“We’re going to take a pretty hard line,” said Hereth, the Coast Guard’s director of port security.

The Coast Guard has a range of sanctions that can be imposed on ships that fail to meet the standards, depending on what the problem is, Hereth said. An administrative glitch could be repaired onboard, he said, but if it should appear that the ship’s operators have done little to comply the vessel could be turned away.

The Coast Guard also can detain a ship and require it to hire security guards until it has come into compliance. Or the Coast Guard can add points to the ship’s risk-assessment score, which would mean that the ship is inspected the next time it calls at a U.S. port.

Joe Cox, president of the Chamber of Shipping of America, which represents U.S. ship owners, said he expects the Coast Guard to enforce strictly the requirement that each vessel has a signed certificate saying it complies with the standards.

“I don’t think there’s a ship around here dumb enough to come into U.S. waters without the certificate,” Cox said.