May 29th, 2021 - After a busy year of drug busts, Ploče Port finally received an X-ray device called ‘Rapiscan’ - for the inspection of container cargo and new vessels to implement surveillance at sea.
Metković News reports, the Customs Administration, using funds from the EU in order to strengthen the operational capacity of the control of goods and traffic in seaports, has deployed an X-ray device model for use - Rapiscan Eagle M 4507 - which was procured within the EU Fund "IPA 2007 - equipment for mobile teams of the Customs Administration for the Suppression of Smuggling", whose purchase value was HRK 9.3 million, of which the EU financed 74%, and the share of national funding was 26%.
The Ploče Port is an international port, open for the traffic of goods in maritime and railway traffic 24 hours a day, with the status of an international inspection border crossing where besides customs other inspection services are regulated (Border Veterinary, Sanitary, Phytosanitary Inspection) and on which the import, and export of all kinds of goods is permitted.
At the annual level in the Ploče Port, there are about 26,000 container units (TEU, 40 ′, and 20 ′ containers), or about 2.6 million tons of cargo (bulk and liquid) and about 60 thousand imported documents are processed in customs procedures, export, and transit.
Director of the Customs Administration, Mr. Mario Demirović stated:
“The X-ray device specializes in the inspection of a wide range of means of transport (containers, tanks) as well as all types of cargo since X-rays penetrate liquids, wood, and steel, which will greatly facilitate cargo inspection in the Ploče Port.
This X-ray device model can inspect loads up to 2.8 meters wide and up to 4.6 meters high, and at high speeds outline the structure and components of scanned objects, whether it is the structure of the vehicle or vehicle, cavities, processed spaces, hidden goods and the like.
Under optimal conditions, up to 30 containers or tanks can be inspected on average and scanned in one hour.
The X-ray device is mobile, which means that it can be used in all locations where there is a need, so from mid-May 2021, it is deployed for use in the Ploče Customs Office for the purpose of inspecting container traffic in the Port of Ploče and the need to strengthen cargo traffic control capacity. to recent large quantities of seized goods (especially narcotics). "
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