Brussels, 29/08/2002 (Agence Europe) - Rotterdam will be the first of a number of European ports to allow American customs inspectors to assist its local services in inspecting goods containers being shipped to the United States, with the goal of ensuring that they present no terrorist threats. The deployment, part of the Container Security Initiative (CSI), will get under way on Monday of next week and will be continued in the ports of Le Havre, Antwerp, Bremerhaven and Hamburg in the coming months (see EUROPE of 12 and 13 August, p. 1 and of 12 July, p. 12). This is the first time in the 213-year history of the Customs Service that inspectors will be deployed outside of North America to identify and examine goods transported by sea before they are shipped to the United States, the State Department announced on Monday. In theory, the inspectors on duty in European ports will be charged with identifying high-risk containers using the US Customs automated system. Once identified, these containers will be examined closely under the responsibility of local services, to ensure that they are concealing neither arms nor terrorists, report sources in Washington.