---
title: Who Really Has Access to Your Containers?
description: Discover why container port security requires a digital approach to physical access, with a focus on identity and governance.
---

[news](https://key2xs.com/news)

# [Who Really Has Access to Your Containers?](https://key2xs.com/news/who-really-has-access-to-your-containers)

 Geschreven door [Key2XS](https://key2xs.com/news/author/key2xs-2) | Oct 20, 2026, 7:20:01 AM

## Why Container Ports Need to Rethink Physical Access Security and Governance

From container terminals to individual shipping containers. Why the next evolution in port security is not about stronger locks, but about controlling who has access, why they need it, when they can use it, and under what conditions.

### The Port as a Strategic Vulnerability

Container ports are the logistical backbone of the global economy. Every day, hundreds of thousands of containers are loaded, unloaded, stored, inspected, and transported across international supply chains.

Behind these enormous cargo flows lies a complex infrastructure of terminals, distribution centers, rail connections, trucking operations, storage facilities, and technical installations.

But wherever valuable goods are concentrated, significant security risks emerge. International seaports are no longer simply logistical hubs. They have become strategically important infrastructure, increasingly exposed to organized crime, sabotage, insider threats, and cyberattacks.

In March 2026, the European Commission introduced its new **EU Ports Strategy**, placing security, resilience, and digitalization at the center of Europe's maritime infrastructure agenda. European ports handle approximately 74% of the EU's external trade. The Commission emphasized the importance of protecting ports against organized crime, corruption, and disruptions to critical logistics operations.

Yet one fundamental question remains insufficiently addressed in many port security strategies:

*Who actually has physical access to the containers, installations, and infrastructure within a port, and how is that access governed throughout its entire lifecycle?*

Answering this question requires more than surveillance cameras, perimeter fences, and access badges. It requires a fundamentally different approach to physical access security.*It requires* *Physical Access Governance*.

## Two Security Challenges That Are Inherently Connected

When discussing container security, we need to distinguish between two levels of protection:

### 1. Securing Access to Ports and Container Terminals

Container terminals consist of extensive secured environments where thousands of employees, truck drivers, maintenance engineers, inspectors, and external contractors may operate.

These environments contain multiple security zones, including:

- Entry gates, quaysides, and container storage yards.
- Technical facilities, crane installations, and power infrastructure.
- Control rooms, communication networks, and operational technology systems.
- Customs inspection facilities and secured storage areas.
- Hazardous materials storage and other high-risk locations.

Traditional Physical Access Control Systems (PACS) regulate entry through badges, electronic readers, barriers, and access control hardware. However, possessing a valid access badge does not necessarily mean that someone has a legitimate operational reason to enter a particular area at a particular time.

A maintenance engineer who required access to an electrical installation yesterday may no longer need that access today. A truck driver authorized to collect a specific container should not automatically be entitled to access other containers or restricted areas. And an external contractor who has completed an assignment should no longer retain access to critical infrastructure.

These examples highlight the fundamental difference between access control and access governance.

### 2. Securing Access to Individual Shipping Containers

The second challenge concerns access to the container itself.

A shipping container may spend weeks traveling between continents, passing through multiple terminals, carriers, logistics providers, and inspection facilities. During this journey, several parties may have legitimate reasons to access its contents. These may include customs officials, cargo inspectors, maintenance personnel, logistics operators, and representatives of the cargo owner. The challenge is not simply determining whether a container is locked.

The question is:

*Who is authorized to open this particular container, at which location, during which time window, and based on whose approval?*

This distinction is essential.

Traditional container seals are primarily designed to provide evidence of potential tampering. They do not inherently identify the person opening a container, validate that person's authorization, or provide centralized governance of access rights.

Electronic locking systems can introduce additional capabilities, but without integration into an identity-based authorization framework, they remain isolated security technologies. The opportunity is therefore to move beyond physical locking mechanisms toward digitally governed physical access.

## The Insider Threat: When Legitimate Access Becomes a Security Risk

One of the most significant vulnerabilities in container port security does not necessarily exist outside the perimeter. It may already be inside.

In April 2023, Europol published an analysis developed in cooperation with the ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Hamburg/Bremerhaven. The report examined how organized criminal networks infiltrate European ports, often relying on corrupted employees, compromised logistics processes, and stolen container reference information. The findings demonstrated how criminal organisations can exploit legitimate access privileges to facilitate illegal activities.

This exposes a fundamental weakness in traditional physical access control. A conventional access control system generally determines whether a credential is valid. It does not necessarily establish whether the person using that credential has a legitimate business justification for entering a particular location at that moment.

Consider a terminal employee who normally has access to a restricted container storage area. The employee enters the area outside normal working hours, without an active assignment or operational requirement.

From the perspective of a traditional PACS, the access event may appear perfectly legitimate. From the perspective of Physical Access Governance, it raises an entirely different question.

*Why was this individual accessing this location when no legitimate operational requirement existed?*

This is the difference between authenticating a credential and governing an authorization. Traditional access control asks: is this credential valid? Physical Access Governance asks: isthis access justified?

An effective governance architecture connects physical access permissions to identities, roles, responsibilities, work assignments, and organizational policies. When an employee changes roles, a contractor completes an assignment, or a security incident occurs, the associated physical access permissions should be reassessed and revoked where necessary. Not only for access badges, but also for electronic keys, cylinders, and other physical access technologies.

## Rotterdam Demonstrates Why Container Security Is an Identity Challenge

The Port of Rotterdam has already taken important steps toward digitally governed container logistics. Through the introduction of the **Secure Chain**, known in Dutch as the *Vertrouwensketen*, the port has been replacing fraud-sensitive PIN codes with a more secure digital authorization process for container collection.

Under this approach, container release information is exchanged between authorized parties within the logistics chain. In March 2025, the Port of Rotterdam announced that the major deepsea shipping lines had transitioned to the Secure Chain for intercontinental import containers.

By June 2025, all deepsea terminals on the Maasvlakte were verifying the executing carrier at the terminal gate. The initiative continued expanding into the shortsea sector in 2026. This represents a fundamental improvement. Rather than relying on the possession of a container release code, the process establishes which logistics party is authorized to collect a specific container. But this development raises another  question:

*If we can digitally govern which carrier is authorized to collect a container, why should we not apply similar principles to determining which individual is authorized to open it?*

And why should these permissions not be connected to existing Identity and Access Management (IAM) and Identity Governance and Administration (IGA) systems? This is where the next evolution in container security begins.

The Secure Chain addresses authorization within the container release and collection process. It does not, by itself, govern every physical access permission within a terminal or determine which individual may unlock a particular container. These are separate authorization challenges. However, they can be addressed using common identity governance principles.

## From Container Seals to Intelligent Access Governance

Historically, securing individual shipping containers has relied heavily on mechanical locks and tamper-evident seals. Both serve important purposes. Mechanical locks provide physical resistance against unauthorized entry. Seals help reveal potential tampering. However, *neither provides comprehensive identity-based access governance.*

A broken seal does not necessarily reveal who opened the container. A mechanical key can be transferred between individuals without leaving a centrally accessible audit trail. And traditional locking procedures generally provide limited flexibility for modifying access permissions while a container is in transit.

Modern electronic and electromechanical locking technologies can offer additional capabilities. Depending on the technology, these may include individual digital credentials, time-limited permissions, access event logging, and centralized credential management.  
This creates an opportunity to treat **physical access to a shipping container as a digitally governed entitlement**.

Consider a container transporting high-value electronics from Asia to Rotterdam. During its journey, several parties may require access. A customs officer may need to inspect the cargo. A maintenance technician may need to replace damaged locking hardware. A logistics provider may need to open the container at its final destination.

Instead of relying on a mechanical key shared between parties, an authorization platform could assign individual access permissions based on the user's identity and operational responsibilities. Access could potentially depend on the following conditions:

- The identity and organization of the individual.
- The specific container being accessed.
- The location of the container.
- The permitted access window.
- The operational justification for opening the container.
- The approval of the party responsible for the cargo.

These capabilities depend on the selected locking technology, communication architecture, and operational conditions. For example, remote revocation, offline credential validation, and location-dependent authorizations cannot simply be assumed to work identically across all electronic locking products.

Furthermore, widespread implementation would require appropriate hardware, interoperability standards, operational agreements, and compatibility with international customs and container security requirements.

The strategic objective is not necessarily to turn every shipping container into a permanently connected device. The objective is to make physical access to containers governable, accountable, and auditable.

## Physical Access Governance: One Authorization Framework Across the Port

The greatest opportunity emerges when physical access permissions are no longer managed in isolation. Many port organisations operate multiple systems for employee identities, contractors, physical access badges, electronic keys, maintenance work orders, and logistics operations. These systems typically serve different operational purposes.

As a result, physical access rights can become fragmented across departments, vendors, and technologies. For example, an employee may lose access to corporate IT applications while retaining an electronic key that opens a critical infrastructure facility.

An external contractor may have completed an assignment while still possessing active physical credentials. Or an employee may have accumulated access permissions over several years without anyone being able to explain why those rights remain necessary.

These are familiar identity governance challenges. The difference is that they involve access to physical assets rather than digital applications.

### Connecting Four Layers of Security

A mature Physical Access Governance architecture brings together four distinct layers.

**1. Identity Governance and Administration**

The IGA platform establishes which identities exist, what organizational roles they perform, and which access entitlements are justified. This may involve platforms such as SailPoint, Omada, or other enterprise identity governance solutions.

**2. Operational Context**

Business systems provide information about actual operational requirements. Examples include contractor management platforms, maintenance management systems, work orders, and logistics applications. This information helps establish why physical access is necessary.

**3. Physical Access Governance**

A governance platform translates approved identity entitlements and operational requirements into permissions for connected physical access technologies. It provides an interface between identity governance processes and the diverse physical access systems deployed across an organization.

**4. Physical Access Enforcement**

The actual access decision is enforced by the relevant hardware. This may involve electronic cylinders, intelligent keys, access readers, or other supported locking technologies. The hardware remains responsible for physically enforcing access permissions.

The governance layer manages the authorization lifecycle, including provisioning, review, and revocation. Such an architecture allows organizations to preserve existing investments in physical access infrastructure while introducing more consistent governance across technologies.   
This is particularly important in container terminals, where replacing every installed access control system would often be commercially and operationally unrealistic.

## A Practical Scenario: Maintenance Access at a Container Terminal

Consider an external maintenance engineer assigned to repair an electrical installation at a container terminal. In a traditional environment, the contractor receives a badge and possibly a physical or electronic key. The associated permissions may be managed independently from the maintenance assignment.

A governance-driven approach creates a different process:

First, the maintenance assignment is registered in the organisation’s maintenance management system. The contractor's identity is verified and associated with the relevant service provider. Based on the work order, the organization determines which terminal zone and technical installation the engineer needs to access.

The authorization is then translated into the appropriate physical access permissions through the governance platform. The engineer receives access only to the areas and assets required for the assigned work.

When the work order is completed or the authorization period expires, the permissions are revoked according to the capabilities of the connected systems. Access events can be recorded and associated with the underlying authorization, where supported by the physical access technology.

This provides a clear audit trail showing which permissions were granted, why they were granted, and which physical access events were registered.

The same principles can be extended to inspection personnel, external security providers, terminal employees, and individuals authorized to access specific containers. The resulting operational benefits are substantial:

- Permanent access rights can be reduced.
- Contractor permissions become easier to manage.
- Access reviews become more meaningful.
- And incident investigations can benefit from a clearer relationship between identity, authorization, and physical access activity.

The question changes from:

*Does this person have a key? to: Why does this person have this access right?*

## NIS2, CER, and ISPS: Different Frameworks, One Governance Challenge

European container ports operate within an increasingly demanding security and resilience environment. Several regulatory frameworks are particularly relevant.

### International Ship and Port Facility Security Code

The International Ship and Port Facility Security Code, introduced in 2004, provides an important international framework for maritime and port facility security. Its requirements include preventing unauthorized access, protecting restricted areas, and implementing appropriate security plans and procedures.

### NIS2

The European NIS2 Directive establishes cybersecurity risk management and incident reporting requirements for covered organizations. Within the transport sector, certain port managing bodies, port facilities, and infrastructure operators fall within its scope, depending on the applicable criteria and national implementation.

Although NIS2 primarily addresses cybersecurity, the protection of network and information systems frequently depends on the physical security of the environments in which those systems operate. Unauthorized access to a terminal control room, network cabinet, or operational technology installation can have direct cybersecurity consequences.

### Critical Entities Resilience Directive

The Critical Entities Resilience Directive focuses on the resilience of designated critical entities against a broad range of threats. These include physical attacks, sabotage, natural hazards, and other disruptive events.

In July 2026, the European Commission published additional implementation guidance addressing the resilience of critical infrastructure. For covered port organizations, these frameworks reinforce the importance of understanding how physical access permissions are granted, controlled, and reviewed.

They also raise practical governance questions:

- Can the organization demonstrate that only authorized personnel have access to critical installations?
- Can access permissions be reviewed periodically?
- Can contractor access be withdrawn when assignments end?
- Can the organisation reconstruct relevant authorization decisions during a security incident?

Physical Access Governance can support these objectives. This does not mean that NIS2 or CER universally mandates a specific centralised electronic key management platform. Actual obligations depend on applicable legislation, organisational classification, national implementation, and risk assessments.

Nevertheless, the direction is clear. Physical access security must increasingly be considered within a broader framework of organisational risk management and accountability.

## The Next Challenge: Governing Access Across Organisational Boundaries

A container terminal is not a closed corporate environment where every individual works for the same employer. Port operations depend on an extensive ecosystem of shipping companies, logistics providers, inspection authorities, transportation operators, technical contractors, and government agencies. This creates a significant identity governance challenge.

A maintenance technician may require access to installations operated by several terminals. A customs inspector may be authorized to open a container without being entitled to access unrelated technical areas. A logistics provider may be responsible for collecting a container without being authorized to inspect its contents.

*The real challenge is therefore not simply governing physical access within one organization. It is governing access across organizational boundaries.*

This requires agreements on identity trust, delegated authorization, accountability, and secure information exchange. A centralized governance concept does not necessarily require every participant to use the same identity database.

Federated identity architectures can allow organizations to manage their own identities while exchanging the information needed to support specific authorization decisions.

This approach becomes particularly relevant for international container logistics. The Rotterdam Secure Chain demonstrates that digital authorization models can be established across multiple independent organisations.

Extending similar principles to physical access represents a logical next step. However, federated access governance also introduces privacy, liability, and operational challenges. Organizations need to determine who is responsible for granting access, which identity attributes may be shared, how revocations are communicated, and which parties may access audit information.

These considerations must be addressed before cross-organizational physical access governance can operate at scale.

## The Role of Key2XS in Modern Port Security

Key2XS addresses a specific part of this transformation. Rather than replacing existing physical access control technologies, Key2XS connects physical access permissions with enterprise Identity Governance. Large infrastructure environments rarely depend on a single physical access technology.

A container terminal may use one system for buildings and perimeter access, electromechanical keys for remote technical installations, and specialized locking solutions for particular operational assets.

Mandating a single hardware ecosystem is not necessarily the most effective approach. Instead, organisations can introduce an independent governance layer above their existing technologies.

This is where Key2XS is positioned. Key2XS connects Identity Governance with supported physical access technologies, enabling organizations to manage physical access entitlements as part of their broader identity governance processes. This enables organizations to work toward an operating model in which:

- Physical access rights are associated with centrally governed identities.
- Authorizations are assigned based on roles, responsibilities, and legitimate operational requirements.
- Access permissions can be provisioned, reviewed, and revoked throughout their lifecycle.
- Multiple supported electronic key and access control systems can participate in common governance processes.
- Authorization records and available access events support auditing, investigations, and compliance activities.

Actual functionality depends on the capabilities and integrations of the connected systems.

For container terminals, the most immediate applications involve access governance for technical installations, secured facilities, operational infrastructure, and other sensitive areas.

Individual container access presents an additional strategic opportunity. With suitable electronic locking hardware and appropriate interoperability arrangements, the same governance principles could potentially be extended to specific shipping containers. These are two distinct markets with different operational characteristics. However, they share the same underlying governance challenge.

*Every physical access right needs a legitimate purpose, an accountable owner, and a controlled lifecycle.*

## From Perimeter Security to Object-Level Governance

Container ports will become increasingly digital over the coming years. Automated terminals, intelligent inspection technologies, enhanced container tracking, and connected logistics platforms will continue transforming maritime operations.  
But digitalization alone does not guarantee security.

An automated terminal is not necessarily secure if physical access permissions remain uncontrolled. A digitally traceable container is not automatically protected if nobody can establish who is authorized to open it. And an employee with a valid access badge may still represent a security risk when their permissions exceed their operational responsibilities.

The next evolution of port security must therefore move beyond traditional perimeter protection. It must incorporate governance at the level of individual physical assets. This principle can be applied to port gates, terminal zones, buildings, control rooms, technical installations, and eventually individual shipping containers.

It also provides a logical foundation for integrating Physical Access Governance into existing IAM and IGA architectures. For port authorities, terminal operators, and logistics organizations, this creates an opportunity to fundamentally strengthen their security posture. Not simply by deploying more cameras, barriers, and electronic locks.But by establishing better control over who receives access, why that access is justified, and when it must be withdrawn.

## The Next Generation of Port Security Starts with Identity

The container ports of the future will operate as increasingly interconnected digital ecosystems. The physical world of containers, cranes, terminals, and transportation infrastructure will become more closely integrated with digital identities, business processes, and authorization systems.

This transformation creates significant opportunities, but it also introduces new security dependencies. Europe's renewed focus on port security, the introduction of digital container release processes such as the Rotterdam Secure Chain, and the growing importance of critical infrastructure resilience all point toward the same conclusion.

Traditional physical access control is no longer sufficient as a standalone security strategy. The next step is to connect physical access with digital Identity Governance. Because ultimately, the most important security question is not whether a container, door, or installation is locked. The most important question is:

*Who has the right to unlock it, and who is accountable for granting that right?*

That is the essence of Physical Access Governance. And that is precisely the challenge Key2XS is addressing.

**Key2XS | Bridging Identity Governance and Physical Access Security**

Discover more at [www.key2xs.com](https://key2xs.com/?hsLang=nl)

### References and Further Reading

1. [European Commission, EU Ports Strategy, March 2026](https://transport.ec.europa.eu/news-events/news/commission-unveils-eu-ports-strategy-strengthen-competitiveness-security-and-sustainability-european-2026-03-04_en)
2. [Europol, Criminal Networks in EU Ports](https://www.europol.europa.eu/publications-events/publications/criminal-networks-in-eu-ports-risks-and-challenges-for-law-enforcement)
3. [Port of Rotterdam, Secure Chain and the End of Fraud-Sensitive PIN Codes](https://www.portofrotterdam.com/en/news-and-press-releases/end-fraud-sensitive-pin-codes-all-intercontinental-import-containers)
4. [Secure Chain, Digital Security for Container Logistics](https://secure-chain.eu/)
5. [European Commission, CER Implementation Guidance, July 2026](https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/news/commission-issues-guidance-strengthen-resilience-critical-infrastructure-2026-07-10_en)
6. [International Maritime Organization, ISPS Code](https://www.imo.org/en/ourwork/security/pages/solas-xi-2%20isps%20code.aspx)

 

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