After September 11, 2001, special attention has been given to the vulnerability at container transportation to terrorist activities. United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has set up inspection stations for containers at seaport terminals to screen containers, but this practice affects the truck turnaround time in the seaport by generating additional processing delays.

This dissertation analyses the additional truck turnaround time incurred at the inspection stations under various levels of security. Queuing models were used to estimate truck delay as containers are inspected at two successive security inspection stages. Each stage may utilize one or more inspection equipment. The objective is to determine the number of equipment needed to keep the total delay at an acceptable level. Homeland security, CBP, seaport terminal officers, truck and marine carriers may use this research to develop an effective and efficient plan for handling marine freight and containers.