Cargo Seals (From Controlling Cargo Theft - A Handbook of Transportation Security, P 263-300, 1983, Louis A Tyska and Lawrence J Fennelly, ed. - See NCJ-88969)

• NCJ Number: 88977
• Author(s): H W Goodwin
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 9 pages
• Sale Source: Butterworth-Heinemann
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

While cargo seals cannot stop determined professional thieves, they can deter amateurs, delay entry into the truck, identify the location where the theft occurred, and protect shippers from unjustified claims by providing evidence that no tampering occurred from loading until delivery.

Abstract

To ensure a secure management of seals, only one person should be charged with buying protective seals from the manufacturer. The company's name or initials should be embossed on each seal and coded to each terminal by letter, numeral, or color. One person for each shift should be charged with dispensing seals. Drivers should not be given seals to secure the trailers they drive out of the terminal yard. Information should be recorded on the date and time the seal is applied, load destination, trailer number, and name of the person applying the seal. Seals should be applied on all doors of the cargo compartment, and seals should be run through the hasps only once so as to be legible. At the gate, the guard should test the security of the seal and record the tractor number, trailer or container number, seal number and description, driver's name, and date and time. Should it be necessary to break a seal anywhere in the shipping process, the following information should be recorded: name of the person breaking the seal, reason for breaking the seal, and time and date the seal was broken, as well as the serial number of the broken seal and the serial number of the replacement. Seal removal at the destination should also be subjected to a formal procedure and appropriate records kept. Audits should be regularly conducted to ensure that all seal procedures are being followed.