Costa Rica Government Prevents APM Terminals From Putting Container Scanner to Work

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Since March APM Terminals in Limón announced they now had the most modern container scanner in Latin America which helps verify all the cargos traveling to the United States and Europe as a tool to battle illegal traffic of weapons, drugs, cash radioactive materials, plagues, etc.
The But…..In order to put the scanner to work the Government of Costa Rica has to invest in a monitoring center where images will get analyzed. This has not happened, and moreover, there is confusion in the government with regards to which institution is responsible for the execution of this project.
“We are ready to put our new scanner to the service of the country since the day we inaugurated the terminal. However, and despite the fact that we have all the permits and technology available, for the time being the scanner is not operational, this since the monitoring center from which the government authorities will analyze the images has not been built”, explained Kenneth Waugh, general director of APM terminals through a press release.
Just a couple of weeks back police and customs officials in the Rotterdam port (Holland) seized 1.6 tons of cocaine hidden in a shipment of bananas originating from Costa Rica, the shipment has an approximate street value of close to $45 million USD.
This is unfortunately not an isolated event, bananas and pineapple shipments are commonly used to conceal cocaine. Just last October, 6 tons of cocaine were found hidden among a banana shipment in the port of Setubal in Portugal, also originating from Limón (old JAPDEVA port). These events stain the country’s image in international markets since proper controls are not put in place.

At least half of the containers found to have contained cocaine aboard that have docked in Limón in the past years, arrived from Colombia’s port of Turbo, according to a report by national daily La Nación.
Before APM began its operations, it was estimated that some 1.2 million containers passed through the old port annually, out of which just a little over 1% were inspected.
Putting the new scanner to work could make a huge difference in battling contraband, however, the government requires the command center to monitor and analyze scans and surveillance feeds.
“This container (carrying 1.6 tons of cocaine) indeed passed through our terminal. We are collaborating with the International and local Police and facilitating all information gathered about the container, details such as who was the driver that brought the cargo, who is the exporter and through which shipping line it was sent”, said Waugh.
According to the Costa Rican Chamber of Exporters (CADEXO) the Government had estimated that the control center could be in operation by January 2021.
The cost of the scanner acquired by AMP terminals has a value of $2.6 million.
 

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