New Container Scanner System for Colombo Port
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Friday, September 1, 2017
A new container scanner system has been introduced to the Colombo Port. The installation ceremony was launched by the Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Custom officials.
According to the newest initiative four portals of Eagle P60, state of the art scanning units with complete turnkey solution would be installed by the Rapiscan Systems (Pvt) Ltd, an American based leading global supplier of security inspection.
It was learnt the Rapiscan Systems (Pvt), the lowest bidder for the tender was awarded the contract by the government under the purview of customs authority.
Customs Director General Choolananda Perera said that around 1,100 containers arraive to the country while another 400 move out of the country per day but only five percent from the total can be scanned using the existing system that is over ten years old.
With the new initiative four scanners would be installed and the customs will operate round the clock cargo scanning operation with Rapiscan technology and equipment with minimum cost impact to the government as a private public partnership.
Perera said the customs will be able to function in full capacity within six months with its new system and it is possible to scan all incoming and outgoing containers.
“The new system is capable in scanning 100 containers per hour,” he said.
However, Daily Mirror learnt that the Eagle P60’s X-ray imagine system is capable of distinguishing low-density contraband, such as explosives or narcotics, from high-density materials such as steel.