Portland continues ship security plans

PORTLAND – Portland will move forward with a plan to require airport-level screening of all cruise ship and international ferry passengers despite being rejected for funding from the Transportation Security Administration.

Ports and Transportation Director Jeffrey Monroe said spring is still the target start date for the program, which would be the first in the nation to require cruise and ferry passengers to go through the same security process as airline passengers.

The cost of the screening will be passed on to the cruise lines that dock in Portland and to the Scotia Prince, the international ferry that runs between Portland and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

It’s not yet known how much of a surcharge will be levied to pay for the screeners, Monroe said. The city is still trying to obtain federal funding through a different part of the TSA budget.

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe spokesman Ted McEnroe said a decision is expected from the TSA by the end of the month.

Portland must install tighter security to comply with a federal law enacted last year that requires U.S. coastal facilities, ports and ships to develop security plans by July 2004.

The city obtained $750,000 in funding last year through the federal Maritime Security Act Grant Program for three screening terminals, which have been ordered but not yet received. Passengers exiting vessels would be held in a “sterile area” and funneled through screening stations.

The city was hoping the Transportation Security Administration, the federal agency in charge of airport security screening, would pick up the annual cost of extra screeners required for the port.

“We’re caught between a rock and a hard place here. On the one hand, the new Maritime Security Act is dictating what we’re going to have to do in regards to better preparedness,” he said. “On the other side, the TSA was created to do the job that the MSA is dictating. We’ve just got to get those two federal components to come together.”

Portland is an ideal place to test security measures beyond aviation because the city is home to both the Portland International Jetport and two terminals that handle cruise ship passengers and international ferry passengers, he said.

Monroe met with other federal security directors from the Northeast this week to discuss a number of security matters.