Port of Honolulu Temporarily Closes

The Coast Guard Captain of the Port responded this morning to a report that explosive-detecting dogs had alerted security officials at pier 2 of a suspicious pallet of boxes. Two different dogs had singled out a particular pallet for potentially containing explosive devices or residue. The pallet contained loosely packaged Fed-EX boxes from a shipment originating in Las Vegas, NV. The pallet was due to be on loaded on the cruise ship Crystal Harmony this morning. In response to the reports, the Captain of the Port closed the Port of Honolulu at 8:00 this morning to incoming and outgoing marine traffic. This measure was enacted as a precaution until the pallet can be further inspected by officials from the Honolulu Police Department Bomb Squad, Customs, Harbor Police, and the FBI.