I doubt if those growth projections still hold, but the amount of container ship traffic into the country's ports is incredible. Even if it stays flat, or goes down, container ships offer an easy opportunity for terrorists to either bring in goods or use them as bombs. Here are some traffic statistics for LA/ Long Beach alone:
Container Ships
2000: 3,058
1999: 2,716
Panama accounted for 22% of all arrivals by flag for 2000, followed by Liberia with 16%, and the U.S.A. falling to third place with 14%. This is the fourth consecutive year for recorded loses in American flag arrivals. Up until 1996, American flag arrivals continuously ranked number one.
So we are having more foreign flag arrivals and less American. And remember, the foreign flag has little correlation with where the cargo was picked up, that is just the vessel's registration. I don't know how many containers each ship carries, but I assume it is several hundred. Do the math, and you find the total number of containers arriving in the country make it almost impossible to check each one.
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