The Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles are preparing to field test new fingerprint scanners as a part of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program (TWIC). The ports will be the only ones on the West Coast and two of only five nationwide to try out the new equipment.

The machines will verify the cardholder's biometric data via fingerprints, since that information was collected when the TWIC cards were first issued. Other verification methods, such as a retina scan, will not be used in the field test but were not ruled out as a possibility if the machines become standard throughout the ports.

Five terminals at the Port of Long Beach agreed to field test the new TWIC scanners: Total Terminals International, SSA Containers, Sea Launch, BP West Coast Products and Metropolitan Stevedore Company. Three terminals - APL, New Start Energy and the Cruise Center - will try out the new scanners at the Port of L.A.

 - The Cunningham Report