We receive many questions from the road transport sector and concerns are being expressed about the contamination risks due to the use of the hand scan for the CargoCard.
The CargoCard system and the hand scan are an integral part of ECT’s safety process and the logistical process on ECT's terminals. Disabling the hand scan would lead to an increased risk with regards to safety as well as potentially opening the system to misuse and exposing ECT to potential consequences.
Should we (temporarily) disable the hand scan, we would still be required to comply with ISPS regulations. Further, we handle goods for third parties who also impose requirements on control processes and on used security measures.
With regards to the ISPS regulations, the Port Security Officer advises the following. A company that cannot fully comply with its existing security plan is required to request authorisation to deviate from the security plan and must have appropriate replacement measures in place.
In our case this would mean ECT would have to impose physical inspections. We do not have the resources available to adequately cover such a requirement, nor do we consider such action to diminish the risk of possible exposure and contamination. In fact, given the distance guidelines of the Health authority, this would even get bigger.
Besides our legal obligations, we also have commercial agreements. Any change of our safety and security policies is not just a matter for ECT. We have requested liability indemnities from trade associations of shipping lines and cargo owners, however they are unable to give these. It is impossible to get such waivers from all involved parties.
Owing to the above reasons ECT cannot lift the hand scan requirement.
We understand the concerns. ECT therefore takes the necessary sanitary measures and has switched off the (second) hand scan at the desk. However we expect the users of the hand scan to also take appropriate precautionary measures. We need to do this together.
We hope to have informed you sufficiently.
Hutchison Ports ECT Rotterdam