At present more than half of the THSCAN systems are working at those ports and the rest will be up soon.

"Before we introduced the system, it took inspectors at least two hours to finish inspecting one container. But now each container only takes about three minutes," said Zhang Jinguo, vice-director of the inspection division of the Tianjin Xingang Customs House.

He added the system will become a deterrent for people trying to smuggle through the port.

According to Zhang, about half the containers passing through his customs are now inspected by the system.

"Our goal in the future is that a majority of the containers can be inspected by the system," Zhang said.

At least two engineers have been assigned by the company to each system for long-term maintenance, to ensure the system runs soundly and to offer consultation to the inspectors, said Li Qingxiang, an engineer stationed at the Tianjin Customs House.

Not only Chinese ports are benefiting from this system.

The product has already been exported to Turkey, the Republic of Korea, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, according to an employee from the Beijing-based Nuctech Company Limited which makes the system. The employee only gave her family name as Wang.

In May last year, the company signed a contract with an Australian customs house to export two systems, Wang said, adding the company is expecting to sign contracts for 20 THSCAN systems for export this year.

(China Daily September 23, 2002)