The challenge that border controls represent for Customs is growing daily in terms both of cargo volume and in the complexity of external trade transactions. That very complexity is attractive to perpetrators of organized crime who seek to conduct their criminal activities under a front of lawful cross-border operations.

For the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, a country located in the southern part of South America, the high volume of goods in regional and international transit through its chief port, Montevideo, has obliged the National Customs Directorate to re-engineer its processes so that it can efficiently clear the high demand for goods traffic while maximizing potential cargo inspections.

Economic development is essential for the well-being of a country’s citizens, but it must be sustainable, and it is therefore vital to construct pillars or foundations that are conducive to that development over time.

If an economy accepts cargo from across the region and the world without gauging the consequences for other aspects of society such as public safety, then it will be only a matter of time before organized crime takes over, corrupting society and ultimately affecting people’s quality of life.

Accordingly, the State, by way of implementing action [acción ejecutora] taken by the National Customs Directorate, must oversee those areas and introduce Customs control strategies that make it possible for Uruguayan society to navigate the challenges of our times safely and profitably.

For some decades, Customs worldwide have used risk models to identify when goods should be subject to physical and/or documentary checks, or when they should be released immediately once all countries’ formal legislative Customs formalities have been completed.

There are significant differences in terms of the time, cost and efficiency between Customs control methods that involve a paper-based review and those that take the form of a physical inspection.

As stated, the growing volume and complexity of international trade transactions requires Customs to reformulate their control strategies by maximizing their data sources, processing efficiency and availability of integrative technologies.

To that end, the National Customs Directorate of Uruguay has implemented a project that seemingly amounts to an initiative to incorporate technology but that, in fact, masks a new approach to controls that emphasizes the fight against drugs trafficking.

Although Uruguay has had an X-ray device in Montevideo Port for over 10 years, the device has a number of drawbacks in terms of the efficiency and efficacy of its use in Customs controls.

First, the technology has outlived its lifespan. Although the National Customs Directorate implemented a project to update the machine in 2022 with a view to incorporating the ability to differentiate organic from inorganic matter, it was a long way from providing the calibre of radioscopic image that the latest technology can produce.

Another major downside of the machine’s output was that it was incapable of processing more than 10 vehicles per hour, thus restricting the daily control capacity.

Yet another major minus point was the minimum level of integration between the machine and the LUCIA system (System of Customs Management and Control of the National Customs Directorate of Uruguay). The degree of integration significantly hampered data flows and thus adversely affected the process laid down for controls of cargo submitted to non-intrusive inspection.

In combination with the repeated unavailability of the X-ray system owing to sudden, unforeseeable failures, this pointed to a need to re-engineer the non-intrusive inspection process in its entirety.

The factors referred to above resulted in the re-engineering of non-intrusive control process. So, where to start?

In line with the Guidelines for the Procurement and Deployment of Scanning/NII Equipment of the World Customs Organization, the first step was to conduct a comprehensive market survey before moving on to a systemic study of the available technologies.

On the basis of that study, a technical specification for the machines was produced.

Although the procurement of new technology was essential in order to improve non-intrusive inspections, it was clear from the outset that the objective of the project was to reformulate the strategy for cargo control with an emphasis on combating drugs trafficking.

The factors that needed to be considered in order to attain that objective began to mushroom.

The non-intrusive inspection process was defined as a mission-critical process, and, consequently, single points of failure that were capable of disrupting operational continuity were unacceptable.

Accordingly, the decision was made that Montevideo Port would have to have at least two non-intrusive inspection machines (X-ray scanners).

More specifically, the decision was taken to procure three X-ray scanners, two of which would be based permanently in Montevideo Port, while the third would operate both at the Port and as a mobile unit throughout the national territory in line with the National Customs Directorate’s control strategies,

In relation to the establishment of non-intrusive inspection equipment in Montevideo Port, it should be noted that space in a Customs port area is generally limited, thus it was necessary to design, plan and execute two sets of civil works so that inspection tunnels could be constructed in a way that minimized the operational exclusion zone required for the scanners and made best use of the available space.

One set of civil works was conducted at the Northern Access to the Montevideo Port, as this was the point of entry and exit for all cargo vehicles to the Customs port area. The location of the other civil works was adjacent to the specialized container port, which is projected to handle 80% of the cargo passing through Montevideo Port in the next few years. Montevideo Port handles a significant volume of cargo in transit (transhipment and transfer), making a non-intrusive inspection zone close to the container terminal the optimum location in terms of the time and costs involved in movements from the terminal to the scanner and vice versa.

It should be noted that, unless these structures are built of concrete, an exclusion zone measuring 60 x 40 metres (2,400 square metres) is required in order to be able to operate in line with the equipment’s technical specifications; an area of that size is unlikely to be available in a port terminal.

At the point when the scanners were procured, no location had been designated for the civil works within the port area. Therefore, we selected mobile X-ray scanners in the form of trailers that can be used both in pass-through mode (the vehicle to be inspected travels through the inspection tunnel without stopping) or in mobile mode (the vehicle to be inspected is stopped, and the scanner is deployed to conduct the inspection). We requested that the scanners should have the functionality to produce images in the WCO Unified File Format (UFF 2.0), a data format where property rights do not apply for data generated by high-energy scanners.

The scanning capacity for each scanner in pass-through mode is 80 lorries per hour. That number is limited by port logistics and traffic. Whereas, when operating in mobile mode, the estimated scanning capacity is 15 lorries per scanner per hour. Note that, in this mode of operation, the driver has to alight from the vehicle and exit the inspection tunnel before the scanning begins.

As noted already, the scanner technology was a critical factor, but in no way can it be regarded as the main focus of the objective that we sought to achieve; rather, it was one of a number of core aspects.

Operational continuity and maintaining the entire technological infrastructure in optimum condition was another factor that weighed heavily, and therefore we established and procured a comprehensive 10-year operational and maintenance service plan. Service level agreements (SLAs) were drawn up to secure the high level of availability expected from the supplier. In numerical terms, we anticipate that each scanner will have daily availability of 96%, while the availability of the non-intrusive inspection service at Montevideo Port should be greater than 99%.

The cargo directed to non-intrusive control is selected using the LUCIA risk model; accordingly, one critical aspect is for the solution adopted to have the technical capability necessary to perform software integration processes. Essentially, two flows of data were identified: in the first, LUCIA communicates information to the non-intrusive inspection software about the cargo to be inspected, and, in the second, as a result of the physical non-intrusive inspection process, that software communicates a dataset to LUCIA.

Officials from the National Customs Directorate analyse the radioscopic images in an Image Control Centre that was designed to strict security standards and installed as part of the project.

In order to support analysists’ decision-making when assessing a radioscopic image and associated information, the software supplied with the scanners includes artificial intelligence tools. The algorithms can detect non-homogenous cargoes, arms, bottles, cigarettes, empty containers, high-density and similar cargoes. We are embarking on a project to develop our own algorithms based on the images produced by the scanners.

Unfortunately, automatic detection of drugs remains a challenge, and, since installing the new systems, we have not had any successful seizures, although the bulk of the cargo scanned is for export or in transit.

Finally, another equally important pillar is the weighting given to training Customs officials dealing with non-intrusive controls. In this regard, we have procured training plans for the new technologies that the National Customs Directorate has introduced and for the methodologies and good practices involved in image analysis.

Combating organized crime, especially drugs trafficking, is a complex issue that must be addressed in an organized, coordinated fashion.

In particular, the challenge that arises in Customs regionally and worldwide more generally lies in the efficient and effective exercise of Customs authority that has regard to the impact that the discharge by Customs of its duties has on economic development, public safety and, ultimately, the welfare of society.

Non-intrusive inspection processes for cargoes that cross our borders are here to stay, but we must not fixate on the idea that, when we discuss such processes, we are referring exclusively to technology.

Technological progress undoubtedly brings capability and enables us to develop solutions suitable for large-scale inspection, but we must not lose sight of the aims that we are pursuing and that, at the end of the day, technology is an extra tool to help us achieve our intended goal.

In short, when appropriately applied in clear, straightforward processes backed by reliable, good-quality data sources, well-defined information flows, needs-appropriate infrastructure and staff with advanced skillsets, technology sows the seeds for a sound control strategy that can mature and improve with the passage of time.