business

If you are going to take your vessel through the Panama Canal, you will have to possess and use special transponders that allow the Panama Canal Authority to electronically monitor where it is at all times. You will have to have taken special measures against stowaways. You will need an approved and certified security plan.

If you find the new requirements annoying, blame Osama bin Laden.

In any case, on June 1 the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) announced that it now fully complies with the new International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code and that its compliance has been certified by the American Bureau of Shipping.

"Security at the canal has always been a priority. By complying with the ISPS Code and working with ships and ports, our collective efforts will help to make global commerce safer," said ACP Security Officer and Environment and Security Director Juan Hector Díaz in an authority press release.

The Panama Maritime Authority's implementation of ISPS, unlike the canal authority's, has been tainted by monopolistic, expensive and possibly corrupt requirements that all Panamanian-flag ships use one obscure Florida company to approve their security plans. But there has been hardly a word of criticism of the ACP, which after all is charged with protecting this country's principal industrial asset.


Photo by the Panama Canal Authority



Also in this section:
Business & Economy Briefs
Cutting construction costs the common but illegal way
What happens if you wait until the last day to pay Seguro
Panama Canal complies with ISPS
New readership record for The Panama News

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