was revealed last night.

The announcement came just hours after a Royal Gazette reporter managed to walk straight past security staff at Number Six Shed in Hamilton and up the gang plank to Celebrity Cruise's Horizon .

The reporter stepped on to the liner just about an hour before it was due to sail out of port yesterday afternoon.

Security staff were in place to prevent unauthorised people getting any further onto the ship, but it showed a loophole in the security at the terminal.

Even when the reporter walked down the gangplank minutes later and back out through the terminal, nobody paid any attention or even stopped to question her actions.

Last night Corporation of Hamilton secretary Roger Sherratt said the security staff in place at the terminal were not permitted to carry out searches of people or their belongings and had no powers of arrest. And he said their role did not involve checking passengers' boarding passes either.

He said the ships arranged their own security as to who was allowed to go on board the vessel.

But he added: "Government has been holding meetings with the corporations with regards to upgrading the security of all the three sea ports in Bermuda.

"Bearing in mind that Customs decided they were going to withdraw their officers this year, I think it's been recognised by everyone concerned that there is a need to improve security at all of the sea port terminals.'' He said a security co-ordinator will be reviewing the security to decide how the process should be tightened.

He added security officers, which belong to Island Wide Security, were brought in at the start of this year's cruise ship season to fill the gap as the Customs officers were withdrawn.

Port security to be tightened But he said their main role was to ensure groups or beggars did not hang about the terminal causing a public disturbance, as well as monitoring suspicious activity.

However, he said the review could mean new identification cards being introduced, which would be needed by anyone wishing to access the dock area, including shipping agents and terminal and dock staff.

He added: "We are looking at the job descriptions for security staff. Right now they have no power to carry out searches or to arrest people.'' Collector of Customs William LeDrew re-iterated the role of the security guards and said it was not their job to monitor who went on to and off the ship.

He said even if Customs officers were in place yesterday, their role was to monitor any belongings passengers bring off the cruise ships with them.

He added: "When we had Customs officers in there, passengers did not show their passes. Our job, and the job of the security officers, is not as boarding pass security.'' Last night Opposition Leader Pamela Gordon said she welcomed the review, but said no unauthorised person should ever have been able to get near the cruise ships.

She added: "I think there is a loophole in the security that needs to be plugged up and I hope that the final outcome of the review will ultimately benefit Bermuda.

CUSTOMS CUS