Best Practice No. 4 - Ship through CSI port.

Before there was C-TPAT, there was the Container Security Initiative (CSI).

CSI, designed to push the security border out beyond America's shores, consists of four key elements:

• Use of advanced intelligence to identify and target containers that may pose a threat,
• Pre-screen those suspicious containers before they are still overseas,
• Use technology to to quickly pre-screen suspicious containers, and
• Use smart containers. 

When it was first rolled out in 2002, CSI was directed at the top 20 foreign ports from where U.S.-bound containers are loaded.  At the start of 2007, there are 50 ports - including Shanghai and Shenzhen in China - in the CSI program, from which over 80% of US-bound cargo loads.  Also, Canada and Japan post their Customs personnel in U.S. ports as part of the CSI program targeting their imports.

When you consider that containerized shipping is the lifeblood of the global economy, it is easy to see how working to secure the ocean-borne supply chain makes sense.

You can learn more about CSI, including all ports currently in the program, by clicking here.