Port security measures face delay
Efforts to safeguard US ports against terrorism have hit a roadblock. Tests of the experimental screening procedures stop workers who pose no threat, which could have a big cost for port businesses. Hillary Wicai reports.
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SCOTT JAGOW: Four years ago, Congress passed a measure that required port workers to carry tamper-proof photo IDs. The program was supposed to be in place by the end of this year. But there are problems. Marketplace's Hillary Wicai reports.
HILLARY WICAI: Imagine a security card carried by about 750,000 longshoreman, truck drivers and rail workers — the people who make the nation's ports hum.
But tests on a prototype show it sometimes wrongly says a worker is a security risk, among other problems.
Marc Mac Donald is with the Pacific Maritime Association. He says his group is a little concerned that the much-anticipated program might be delayed.
MARC MACDONALD: But we're more concerned that the TWIC program is developed and orchestrated correctly.Terminal operators will have to install the necessary infrastructure.
One Virginia port estimates it could cost them nearly $6 million, and that doesn't count the potential cost of slowing down business.
The cards themselves will cost each worker about $150.
In Washington, I'm Hillary Wicai for Marketplace.
