In May 2018, C-BORD starts field testing five new and enhanced non-intrusive inspection technologies at three representative European customs inspection sites.

Following three years of research and development, the C-BORD Consortium is ready to deploy its equipment for field tests on customs inspection sites. Prototypes for enhanced X-ray imaging and passive radiation detectors have been developed, as well as prototypes for new technologies not yet available on the market today for large-volume cargo inspection: Evaporation Based Detection, Tagged Neutron Inspection, and Photo-fission. Project partners will deploy their prototypes for a mobile checkpoint at a Hungarian-Serbian land border crossing in May, for a rapidly relocatable checkpoint at a medium-sized port in Poland in June, and finally for a fully-automated seaport in The Netherlands in September. Researchers working together with Customs and industry will assess the technologies individually, and, importantly, the added value of combining technologies, thus exploiting their complementary strengths, with data visualisation in a single user interface. The X-ray, passive radiation detection, and Evaporation Based detection devices will inspect pre-selected commercial cargo and all five technologies will inspect “mock-up” containers, in which target threat materials can be placed, to gather as much data as possible on the effectiveness of the devices and their suitability for Customs’ operational environment.

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