American-made port scanners will strengthen security, improve trade- US

Last Updated on Monday, 3 March 2025, 21:34 by Writer

The United States (US) says Guyana’s decision to install American-made scanner technology at its ports would help bolster the South American nation’s security and contribute to improved trade.

“By using trusted technology, Guyana will strengthen its national security, curb narcotics destined for the United States, protect the country’s data, and improve the flow and transparency of commerce,” the US Embassy in Georgetown told Demerara Waves Online News.

A number of shipping container scanners that had been previously used in Guyana was made in China.

The embassy, meanwhile, also highlighted that the US Southern Command enjoys close collaboration with the Guyana Defence Force, including a number of initiatives focused on “maritime domain awareness, a key element of port security in the maritime domain.”

The announcement that US technology would be used to enhance port security was first made by President Irfaan Ali at the opening of the 2025 Annual Police Officers Conference. “The next phase of advancement of our ports, and we’re working with the US on this, is to have a fully digitised scanner system for everything that is coming in and going out. So we are going to remove the burden on our human capacity, and we’re going to have scanners at all our ports for every single thing that is going in and coming out with traceability, accountability, and also with storage capacity so that we can have better security and better management of our border system.

Dr Ali said the relevant laws would be strengthened to impose stiffer fines on persons who do not correctly declare when leaving or entering Guyana.