FORT LAUDERDALE, USA: Seaports and ships throughout the region are scrambling to meet a Thursday deadline on security rules aimed at thwarting terrorism at sea, but many ports won't comply on time, despite billions of dollars in investment and millions of hours in training, audits and other efforts since 2002, the Sun Sentinel reported Monday. "People in the Caribbean Basin are wondering whether in a few weeks they'll get medicine and food in, whether they'll get their textiles out," said Kim E. Petersen, president of Fort Lauderdale-based consulting firm SeaSecure LLC, which just finished a ports audit in the Caribbean Basin. While most vessels from major lines should comply on time, many ports in smaller, poorer nations won't, lacking technical resources and funds. The Coast Guard has broad authority to stop any vessel, inspect it and even deny it entry to U.S. waters if any of the previous 10 seaports it visited aren't in compliance. Should the Coast Guard opt to get super tough, as some worry, its inspections could prompt major delays -- even interruptions -- in trade. "We're very concerned," said Philip Busby, executive director of the Caribbean Shipowners Association, which represents nine shipping lines serving the Caribbean. "Ships are very, very expensive and we simply can't afford to have vessels held up even for hours, when we work on such tight schedules. "But frankly, I don't see July 1 as the guillotine descending. I think as long as ports and companies are trying and doing the best they can, let's not bust chops and penalize innocent people." Still, facing U.S. reprisals, many nations have found the means to comply. In the Caribbean, for example, Jamaica has met the deadline, as will ports in Trinidad-Tobago, St. Kitts and Barbados, among others, the SeaSecure audit found. Ports in politically troubled Haiti and elsewhere remain unlikely to meet the deadline, executives said. Ports that miss the grade do have some wiggle room. Under U.N. rules, they can implement an "alternative" program with some temporary security measures, such as extra guards where a fence should be, and many will do so. Even so, the Coast Guard retains wide discretion on how to enforce the rules, and the shipping community anxiously hopes for pragmatism. Reprinted from Caribbean Net News caribbeannetnews.com