Chinese Government provides grant for Container Inspection Equipment Project

On November 20, 2018, the Chinese Government and the Government of the Philippines signed an exchange of letters committing an unknown amount of grant funding for a Container Inspection Equipment Project. The purpose of the project was to supply and install four mobile x-ray container vehicle inspection systems and two luggage inspection systems in the Philippines. On August 29, 2019, the Philippines’ Bureau of Customs (BOC) and China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) signed an implementation agreement for the Container Inspection Equipment Project. Two mobile x-ray container vehicle inspection systems were to be deployed to Manila International Container Port (MICP), one mobile x-ray container vehicle inspection systems was to be deployed to Port of Manila, one mobile x-ray container vehicle inspection systems was to be deployed to Port of Subic, and the luggage inspection systems were to be deployed to Ninoy Aquino International Airport Customs. According to BOC, the mobile x-ray container vehicle inspection systems can scan 60 containers at most per hour, improving trade facilitation. The X-ray machine is attached to a Volvo truck equipped with material and color discrimination capability allowing image analysts to discriminate organic and inorganic materials thus enhancing the capability in detecting illegal drugs. Further, it can operate with the aid of city power or, in the absence of the latter, use its own generator. Nuctech Company Limited was the contractor responsible for implementation. The machines arrived to the BOC on October 08, 2019. Then, on January 27, 2020, a formal handover ceremony took place.

Additional details

This project is also known as the Project of China-Aid Container Inspection Equipment. The mobile x-ray container vehicle inspection systems and two luggage inspection systems are also known as Mobile Container Vehicle Inspection Systems and Computerized Tomography (CT) Scan Inspection Systems, respectively. The Chinese project title is 菲律宾集装箱检测设备项目. The face value of the MOFCOM grant that supported this project is unknown. This issue warrants further investigation. Nuctech delivered four additional mobile container x-ray machines to BOC on November 5, 2021. However, it is not clear if these machines were funded through the same November 2018 grant commitment for the Container Inspection Equipment Project. This issue merits further investigation.

Number of official sources

8

Number of total sources

14