A union head's comment that a weapons find in container cargo in Dunedin was no surprise given a lack of rigorous inspection of containers entering New Zealand ports is inaccurate and uninformed, Customs say.
Rail and Maritime Transport Union general secretary Wayne Butson told the Otago Daily Times on Friday a container that sparked a police alert last week, after Customs staff saw what appeared to be live weapons during an X-ray, raised questions about what else entered the country undetected.
"That [container] is what we know about. What don't we know about?"
The number of container X-ray machines in New Zealand was inadequate, which meant containers had to go un-checked all the time.
New Zealand's borders had to be relatively insecure compared with countries such as Australia and the United States, where he understood con-tainer inspections were more rigorous, Mr Butson said.
However, Customs trade and marine group manager Paul Campbell said Mr Butson was wrong.
"The most important thing to point out is that intercepting the container in Dunedin last week was not a matter of `luck', chance or random selection, as Mr Butson seems to think - quite the contrary."
Customs' container examinations were based on alerts generated by national and international intelligence gathering and analysis systems, Mr Campbell said.
Because every container was electronically monitored, Customs could raise alerts ahead of the arrival of cargo at any given port.
The alerts were based on shipment profiles developed using criteria that represented types and degrees of risk to New Zealand, including content description, supplier and importer details, vessel and port of origin/destination details, and terms of trade associated with the goods being shipped.
Shipments that triggered alerts were automatically intercepted and held and the cargo evaluated using X-ray, and/or detector dogs and/or closer examination by staff.
"This is exactly what happened in Dunedin last week and happens every day at ports around New Zealand."
The equipment used to inspect containers was cutting edge internationally and the model of inspection was the same as that employed in other developed Customs administrations, including in the United States.
The size of the international supply chain and the speed at which it had to move to maintain global commerce and domestic productivity meant no Customs service in any advanced economy could, or needed to, examine every shipment, Mr Campbell said.
"There is no accuracy in the assertion that New Zealand's approach is inadequate in any way," he said.
Customs staff called in the Dunedin police when what appeared to be boxes of grenades, mortars and large calibre rounds appeared on their screen during an X-ray of a container on a Dunedin wharf last week.
