Miami Vice

The Port has a new attitude and a new security setup meant to kepp legal cargo safe and illegal stuff out 

BY MICHAEL FABEY 

Miami- The port here is no longer nice for vice. 

Until recently, cargo smugglers and thieves treated the port area of Miami like their own personal playground, moving stolen cars, computer chips and other contraband through the region more quickly and easily than many legal loads. 

But the port has a new attitude - and a new security setup - meant to keep legal cargo safe and the illegal stuff out. 

"Miami is no longer the No. 1 port for stolen cars," said Bobby Giangrisostomi, known to everyone in the industry as "Bobby G," the head of marketing for the port. 

For years the port has taken a black eye (two in fact plus a broken nose) as a smugglers' haven for stolen cars and other illegal cargo. Whenever cargo theft figures were tossed around, Miami ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the eyes of federal and law enforcement types trying to get handle on what is loosely called "cargo crime." 

According to the latest estimates by the National Cargo Security Council, somewhere between $5 billion and $10 billion in cargo gets stolen each year in the United States. True, that's quite a range. The problem is that cargo crime often is not reported as cargo crime. There is no such police designation. Instead, it's reported as grand larceny, burglary or some other crime. 

Still, it costs U.S. companies more annually than most businesses make in a year or even two. That's why companies have formed such groups as the National Cargo Security Council or the Maritime Security Council. Government has taken the cue and helped form such organizations as the Business Anti-Smuggling Coalition that work with private companies. 

And law enforcement agencies have stepped up the pressure too. The FBI created the Interstate Theft Unit while local units include Southern California's Cargo Cats and South Florida's Metro-Dade Task Force, which works out of Miami. 

Giangrisostomi and many others in the Miami port say the port itself takes an undeserved bad rap for the cargo crime problems. They point out that many of the cargo crimes take place on roads or warehouses near the port, not at the terminals themselves. Still, whenever Miami and cargo crime get mentioned together, most people automatically peg the problem to the port, they say. 

One of the key selling points for the port, though, does make it an attractive spot for thieves and smugglers. Miami is North America's main launching point for Latin American cargo, one of the main markets for the thieves and smugglers. Many of the stolen cars wind up bound for Latin America. The same goes for computer chips, perfume and clothing. 

Latin America has become such a wide-open market for stolen U.S. goods because it's relatively easy to get the cargo there and the thieves have plenty of buyers ready for the goods. The FBI and other U.S. agencies and organizations say Latin American companies often don't ask and don't care where the goods come from - they just bite at the best deal. 

Even if the legal market were not so accommodating, black market shops line streets throughout Latin American cities. Indeed, cargo theft is a major problem in Latin America; companies even have their own goods hijacked, collect on insurance and sell those very goods on the black markets. The Latin American buyers have offices in Miami and other U.S. cities that often deal directly with mid-level brokers - fences - to place orders for stolen cargo. 

Those orders are easier to place when the cargo's in containers. Shippers are putting more and more goods into containers and that's what Miami is known for - the port doesn't handle bulk cargoes. 

In 1996, the port ranked as the 10th top container port in the United States, handling about 504,900 20-foot containers of cargo, according to the Port Import/Export Reporting Service. Last year, the port moved up to the No. 8 spot, handling about 623,650 TEUs. And the port expects to keep climbing, especially with the boom in Latin American cargo. 

But port officials have taken steps to make sure smugglers don't reap any benefits from Miami's success. The port checks every car moved through the port to make sure it is not stolen. It uses gamma rays to check for drugs, guns or other contraband. Trucks and other traffic entering the port must go through three checkpoints. Here the port has geography as an ally - it is on an island and there is only one bridge on or off. Truck drivers leaving the port with cargo have their picture taken, along with the cargo paperwork, at the gate. 

None of this can guarantee an end to contraband at the port. But the Miami moves certainly have added some new verses to the smugglers' blues.