Operation Safe Commerce: Puget Sound Ports Receive .2 Million for Security Projects

The Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma will receive a combined $14.2 million in grant funding for the second round of Operation Safe Commerce (OSC), a federally funded program designed to analyze current security procedures for containers entering the country. These supply chain tests will generate a record of the processes, practices and technologies that enhance container security - without compromising efficiency.

Announced today by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the grants follow the first round of OSC grants, announced in June, when the two Puget Sound ports received a combined $13.3 million to fund five supply chain test programs.

The second round of OSC funding will support four additional test programs:

Imports of auto parts from Japan through the Port of Seattle to Colorado;
Coffee imports from Guatemala through the Port of Seattle;
Electronics from Taiwan through the Port of Tacoma to Auburn, Washington.
Shipments of wheat gluten from Germany through the Port of Oakland to Kent, Washington.

The nation's three largest load centers - Seattle/Tacoma, Los Angeles/Long Beach and New York/New Jersey - encouraged maritime industry companies to develop OSC teams to create supply chain test proposals for funding by the Transportation Security Administration.

In the first and second rounds of OSC, the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma received $27.5 million out of a total of $56 million available to the three participating load centers.

"I think our success in securing funding is a reflection of the quality of the projects this region submitted and the seriousness with which we and our partners in the industry approach the issue of security," said Mark Knudsen, Deputy Managing Director of the Port of Seattle's Seaport Division. "We followed-up with those companies as they developed their proposals and we submitted a very thorough and well-thought-out application."

"Through OSC, the load center ports will enhance supply chain security," said Timothy J. Farrell, Port of Tacoma Deputy Executive Director. "Of course, cargo is most secure when it is moving, and so continued efficiency is a key element of the program. Senator Patty Murray has spearheaded this program in Washington, safeguarding the international trade upon which so much of the U.S. economy is based."

"Senator Patty Murray deserves a great deal of credit for ensuring the availability of money to fund these vital projects," Knudsen added. "She is a tremendous asset to this region and to the maritime and transportation industries."

The testing and evaluation of OSC projects are expected to be completed by August 2004. Security techniques and tools that prove successful will be recommended for use throughout the maritime industry.