Port Holdups.

Miami cracks down on cargo theft-but at a price.

THE PORT OF MIAMI ONCE SHONE LIKE A beacon for hijackers, thieves and cargo rustlers. Now it has smugglers headed for the rocks.

New X-ray machines screen containers for drugs and other contraband. Shipyard trucks pass through rigorous checkpoints. Customs inspectors are more zealous than ever. At a time when cargo crime is up nationwide by about 20% to nearly US$12 billion annually, Miami is cracking down.

"The port is much better than it used to be," says John Hyde, the head of security for Maersk-SeaLand, one of the leading shipping lines for the Latin American trade lanes and one of the leading customers at the port. "Miami is much improved."

It has to be. Many drug traffickers, FBI Special Agent Tracy Reinhold says, are switching to cargo crime because they can make just as much money with a lot less risk. Indeed, the penalties are not as stiff for a container of stolen microchips compared to a container of cocaine.

The entry of drug traffickers and other sophisticated criminals--combined with an increase in the shipping of smaller and more expensive items, like electronic equipment--has helped change the face of cargo crime. It is now increasingly organized and sophisticated. Whereas before the biggest problem was pilferage from the back of trucks (or, in rare cases, a hijacking), current schemes include infiltrating trucking companies to create phony invoices or bills of lading and emptying and refilling containers in warehouses.

"It's a very liquid business," Reinhold says. "They steal it one day and it's sold within the next 72 hours. It's a constant problem, especially for major cargo hubs, like New York. Memphis and Miami."

The increased vigilance at Miami, the busiest container U.S. port for Latin American cargo, comes amidst a national crackdown on cargo crime. About a year ago, the FBI started Operation Sudden Stop, which combines the efforts of 36 task forces in 29 field offices across the United States. The agency recently came through with 400 arrests and indictments. "In the early 1990s, we shifted our efforts from property crimes to gang-related crimes," Special Agent Reinhold says. "Now we are switching back to property." Parts on demand. Last year, federal, state and local authorities busted eight people on charges of running an international cargo crime ring. The group allegedly stole computer parts on demand in the Miami area and then exported them to Latin America.

Despite its progress, Miami is still a hot spot for cargo theft. That's not terribly surprising. Most cargo theft occurs during the shift of boxes from one mode of transportation to another; Miami, as an air, land and sea transfer point, offers more opportunities than many other gateways.

That's why Miami has to work so hard to prevent these crimes. It operates three checkpoints that truckers must clear before they can get their cargo, and the port takes pictures of the drivers with the paperwork.

But the new watchfulness carries a price. Greater vigilance has increased delays in moving cargo through the port. Truckers, already riled by congestion backups and rising fuel prices, complain that the additional slowdowns cost them cargo runs and money--many are paid by the number of trips they make in the port.

Port Director Charles A. Towsley says the facility is working on cutting down the delays and devising ways to reimburse the trucking companies for lost time or revenue.

The real key, law enforcement officials say, is getting businesses to take more firm steps to protect against cargo crime. They need to do a better job screening employees and tracking their cargo, from the time it leaves the plant to the moment it reaches its destination.

The FBI achieves its most effective results, Reinhold says, when the Bureau and industry work "hand in glove." Indeed, that may be best way to keep thieves' hands off cargo.