U.S. blacklists 7 countries for lax port security

12 May 2005

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Anti-terrorism safeguards are so lax in seven countries, five of them in Africa, that U.S. officials will now board and screen all ships which recently docked there before allowing them to enter U.S. ports, the Coast Guard said on Thursday.

It said Madagascar, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Albania and Nauru had failed to comply with the ISPS international maritime security standards imposed last year and therefore lacked effective anti-terrorism measures in their ports.

The Coast Guard also said that from May 23, all ships which had docked in these states on one of their last five stops would automatically be denied entry to the United States unless they took tough new security precautions, such as placing guards at all access points to the ship while in a blacklisted state.

While the countries on the list are fairly small on the global shipping map, the impact on vessels that have recently docked there could be large. Security boardings at sea or a denial of entry to the United States can trigger extremely costly delays, and perishable cargo can be lost completely.

Washington -- fearing a seaborne attack by militant groups such as al Qaeda -- has vowed to police strictly according to the ISPS rules that came into force on July 1, 2004 by turning away ships that are not security-certified or delaying ones that have called at "contaminated ports."

About 200 ships call on the United States' 361 ports every day.

The blacklisted countries are:

• Madagascar
• Liberia
• the Democratic Republic of Congo,
• Mauritania,
• Guinea-Bissau,
• Albania and
• Naura