Review – HR 3169 Introduced – Foreign Crane Inspections

Earlier this month, Rep Gimenez (R,FL) introduced HR 3169, the Port Crane Security and Inspection Act of 2023. The bill would require new port cranes to be inspected by DHS for potential security risks before they were placed into operation. It would also prohibit new foreign (read Chinese) cranes and require existing foreign cranes to switch to non-foreign software within five years. No new funding is authorized by this bill.

Moving Forward

Gimenez and one of his six cosponsors {Rep Higgins (R,LA)} are members of the House Homeland Security Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there could be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in Committee. While there will be some bipartisan support for this bill based on the China bashing provisions inferred in the bill, I do not expect that it will pass in its current form in Committee. That is because the sharp line drawn in prohibiting the future installation of foreign (read Chinese) cranes section 3 of the bill does not reflect the reality on the ground. That flat prohibition will draw opposition of many port operators, shippers, and (less important to be sure) the Chinese government. If the bill is considered in Committee it will almost certainly involve substitute language crafted by the Committee staff.

Commentary

Section 2 of the bill probably needs to be rewritten to better clarify how DHS/CISA is supposed make the decision about what constitutes a security threat. For example, does the presence of programmable logic controllers (PLCs) that can be reprogrammed by anyone with access to the network constitute a security threat. If so, CISA can probably determine that all foreign cranes pose a security threat, but then again so would most domestic cranes. The question that needs to be answered before CISA can really make these decisions is when is something a security threat for Chinese cranes but not for US (or South Korean, or German) cranes? This needs to be spelled out before Chinese manufacturers sue CISA in US Courts.

 

For more details about the provisions of this bill, including an expanded commentary, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-3169-introduced - subscription required.