Cable Locks
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Standard cable locks are used on rail cars and truck trailer doors as they are flexible and easy to put through the doors and then they are easy to cut at the other end. They don’t offer as much security as a bolt seal though so you are trading security for simplicity. You have to always remember if it’s easy for you to cut the security seal then it’s easy for an intruder to cut the seal. The costs of an open trailer when it arrives at the border would be beyond calculation.
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Is that worth it?
Bolt seals have been used on high value cargo – televisions or cigarettes – as they offer security and they are very hard to tamper with. Cable locks are more suited to use with trailer doors and rail cars mainly because the containers are traveling further plus the container will be opened by someone on the other end – not the driver of the truck. .
The cable lock is much easier to cut so it is the security seal of choice for trucks as most drivers have to cut the seal in order to get the truck unloaded when they reach their destination. There is nothing worse for a driver than to arrive at the unloading dock only to find that the company doesn’t have bolt cutter when there is a bolt attached. We have heard that border guards feel that carrying a bolt cutter in the truck defeats the purpose of the security seal because if someone breaks in then they can easily use the tool to get into the load. They would obviously prefer if they tampering occurred with tools not supplied by the trucker.
The cable lock has the adjustable loop and this helps it to be put through the various size of loops that the trailer doors and rail car doors have. The rail car doors especially have been used so often that only a cable seal can be used as it is almost impossible to get a bolt seal through the doors. The rail cars take a beating as they travel across North America.
Two sizes of cable locks are C TPAT approved and these are the 3.5mm (1/8 inch) and 5mm (3/16 inch). The tensile strength of a cable security seal has to be 10 KN to meet the ISO17712 requirements of a high security seal and that is what a 3.5mm cable usually is – between 10 KN and 13 KN – and a 5mm is 16 KN to 20 KN. A bolt seal will be much higher security – in the 35 KN range which is great high security but again this comes at price as the bolt seal is hard to remove.
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Cable locks Application:
Containers shipped by Sea and Truck
Truck Trailers
Rail Cars
The minimum cable diameter that used to pass the shear test of ISO 17712 and C TPAT was the 5mm cable but technology has now allowed the 3.5mm cable lock and this should be the minimum of cable seal diameter to be qualifying as a high security seal. The users of the cable lock seals wanted them to be easier to cut and the suppliers listened to their input and the 3.5mm (1/8 inch) cable lock was born.
Cable locks of companies must be C TPAT (Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism) compliant in order to be used as high security seals.
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Posted in High Security Seals