The customs duties leviable on goods destined for the interior shall be collected at the port of entry and handed over to the administration of the area of destination.

BBC: Map detailing the Sykes-Picot agreement

The World Shipping Council has already argued that vessels should be stopped and inspected, if necessary, not at the initial port of entry in America but at their ultimate destination.

ECONOMIST: In peril on the sea | The

But the discovery of three corpses among 15 illegals in a stinking Seattle shipping container in January and the shocking news of 58 corpses and just two survivors found in a truck at the English port of Dover three weeks ago have set off alarm bells in destination countries as well as in China.

CNN: From Our Correspondent: Dreaming of Gold Mountain