Honduras Port Touts Thorough Security Checks
Puerto Cortes, the largest and deepest port in Central America located on Honduras’ Caribbean coast has reported this week that it is the only port in the Western Hemisphere to scan one-hundred percent of inbound and outbound shipments for radioactive substances.
Ranked 29th in the world in volume of shipments to the United States, Puerto 
Cortes is a partner to the U.S. Government’s Container Security, Megaports, and Secure Freight Initiatives. Indeed the port hosts both U.S. and Honduran customs officials as well as enabling Department of Homeland Security Officers back in the United States, to view real time imagery from security scanning activities at the port.
Commenting on the extensiveness of 
the security at Puerto Cortes, the Executive President of the Honduras based Foundation for Investment and Development of Exports(FIDE), Vilma Sierra said that "Honduras is roughly four years ahead of the U.S. congressionally mandated July 2012 deadline requiring 100 percent of all U.S.-bound containers to be scanned before entry, established by the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006."
According to FIDE, the Puerto Cortes facility has established a fast and efficient container scanning system that, in three stage process, examines a container in just forty-eight seconds.
The first stage of the scanning process consists of a Radiation Portal Monitor whilst the seconds stage involves Non-Intrusive Inspection equipment that provides imaging of the container’s interior using Gamma-Ray technology. Finally, if radiation is detected, Radiation Isotope Identification Devices are used to identify the source.
Puerto Cortes is the main Honduran port and is located in the Gulf of Honduras, in the Bay of Cortez. The port handles approximately 89% of the country’s maritime cargo and was built under the concept of the Central American Common Market to provide service to all countries of the area.
Source: Marketwire, FIDE and PortFocus