Maritime hazardous cargo security act was meant to improve the security of vessels that transport dangerous chemicals and petrol chemicals. It was set with the aim of protecting Americans from terrorism and the economy by protecting the theft of chemicals and petrol products. The bill also aimed at improving the handling of the hazardous cargos to avoid explosions. The bill provided a category of hazardous materials that are transported by ships. The category was termed as especially hazardous cargo.
These materials include ammonia nitrate, anhydrous ammonia, chlorine, liquefied natural gas among other explosives. In section 801, the secretary of the Department of Homeland security was the one who defined the products that are classified as especially hazardous cargo. The department of homeland security was authorized by the international security standards to work with the international maritime organization to form a committee of the, especially hazardous cargo. The committee would discuss security measures to be excised to ensure the security of the, especially hazardous cargos.
The committee was to constitute the representatives from the United States traders of materials classified as especially hazardous. This committee would set measures that would be followed when handling especially hazardous cargos. That is how they should be loaded, unloaded, and crewed for shipment. Section 802 contains the information on validation of the international shipment and standards of security at the ports. The secretary would work together with the international maritime organization to form a third party of the foreign countries that are shipping especially hazardous cargos. This party would validate that the foreign ports are meeting the standards of inspection and handling of these cargos to ensure security. The secretary has the right to audit the standards of the foreign ports and can revoke their certification if they do not meet the standards (Ritter, Barrett and Wilson, 2007).
Section 803 contains information on protection and security assistance of the foreign ports. The secretary would come up with strategies for implementing these programs to improve security at foreign ports. Section 804 has information on coast guard port assistant program. The coast guard would be authorized to loan equipment to the ports. It can also offer technical training to the ports personnel for them to meet the international codes for shipment of especially hazardous cargos to improve security. Section 805 contains information on cost-sharing on the expenses of transportation of, especially hazardous cargos. The coast guard would establish the ports that handle such cargos and the secretary would come up with a cost-sharing plan to enable coast guard to improve on security during transportation of these cargos (Homeland Security, 2011).
Section 806 contains information on the transportation security improvement plan and it would involve the coast guard on modifying maritime transportation plans to include local response on security incidences and revival from a security incident. Section 807 contains information on the occurrence command system demands that all the security staff at the port be well trained on how to handle loading and unloading of, especially dangerous cargos at the department of Homeland security. Section 808 contains information on communication when in a security incident. The secretary is required to ensure that the interoperable communications technology can be relied on even when the infrastructure has broken down. In Section 809 the secretary defines the especially hazardous cargos as the tanks and bulk vessels (Ritter, Barrett and Wilson, 2007).
Reference List
Homeland Security (2011). Preliminary Observations on Efforts to Target Security Inspections of Cargo Containers GAO-04-325T. Web.
Ritter, L., Barrett, J. M., and Wilson, R. A. (2007). Securing Global Transport Networks. New York: McGraw hill professional.