X-ray technology installed in Puerto Río Haina on Tuesday puts the Dominican Republic on par with other countries that use these systems to scan containers in less time and accelerate international trade, such as the United States, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia and Chile.
This equipment, which was donated to the state by HIT, which is the port operator that manages and develops the port of Río Haina, will allow the country to be closer to the goal of becoming a logistics center in the region.
The director of the General Directorate of Customs (DGA), Eduardo Sanz Lovatón, explained that the installation of this instrument has the capacity to scan over 100 containers per hour, as well as to discriminate organic materials from metallic ones by using dual energy technology.
This high-tech equipment that will allow containers to be scanned without the trucks stopping has had a $ 3 million investment by HIT.
The Director of Customs Technology, Daniel Peña, indicated that the equipment automatically downloads, during the image analysis, the information about the contents of the container in order to be able to compare them with the displayed content of the cargo.
“Undoubtedly, with the installation of this equipment in the important port of Haina, we establish our country in standards around the world, we take firm steps towards achieving our goals of shipping goods in 24 hours, but also to achieve the long-awaited dream as the Republic Dominican Republic to become the logistics center of the region “, argued Peña.
How will it work?
Peña explained that all rigorous measures are already being considered for their installation in a restricted inspection area, which will comply with national and international radiation safety standards for both equipment operators and truck drivers.
In addition, he stressed that the team will have a radar that allows to identify the place where the truck cabin ends and the container starts, so it will emit radiation only when it is certain that the truck cabin has finished passing through the load-bearing beam. X.
For HIT President, Erick Alma, he considered that the country has the great challenge of becoming the logistics center of the region, “but to achieve this we must row in the same direction and contribute to all (…) Therefore, we donate to the customs authorities high-tech X-ray equipment, which would reduce the residence time of the containers, which is an advantage ”.
Rio Haina port operations
Authorities stressed the value of this technological equipment, because the Port of Clothes is essential for the Dominican Republic, because only in 2019 it closed with a total traffic of 441,000 tons (standardized measure of 20-foot containers), which represents an average per day of 1,208 yours.
This port terminal also handled more than 6.3 million metric tons of free general cargo, including pallets, rods, wood, grain and more. Thus, it registered a transit of 1,627 ships, on average 31 weekly visits during 2019.
The port contributes 38% of the Dominican customs collections.