Sea Container Trips Data

Sea containers can carry contaminating invasive alien pests and diseases, which can impact animal and plant health, agriculture, and natural resources, and cost millions of dollars. In response, some countries restrict entry of containers, and international initiatives are ongoing. However, sea container movement has never been quantitatively evaluated. Our project team included biosecurity experts and pest risk analysts from the United States of America, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Our objectives were to collect data by sampling in-transit consignments for one year from industry services, using each agency’s private customs information. This is critical because historical data on container movements is not available. We used grant funds in part to purchase the container/vessel and port specification data. We would then use that collected data to quantitatively describe, for the first time, the likelihoods and frequencies of sea containers moving from and to different ports.