time to scramble: cargo-
screening deadline approaches
When Congress passed a law phasing in 100-percent
screening of air cargo, industry veterans shook their heads
and wondered how they were ever going to comply.
The time for head-shaking is over. Starting next month,
50 percent of shipments must be screened—piece by piece,
no pallets or containers and no shrink wrap or banding—
prior to loading on board an aircraft. (Shipments may be
unitized after screening.) It’s anyone’s guess whether the
industry will meet that deadline. A more important question is how big a bottleneck the mandate will create for
shippers, carriers, and freight forwarders.
At the Northeast Cargo Symposium organized by the
Coalition of New England Companies for Trade, Douglas
Brittin, air-cargo manager for the federal Transportation
Security Administration, emphasized that the airlines are
responsible for ensuring cargo is adequately screened; TSA
is responsible only for approving the methods they and
their agents use. The industry also is “ 100 percent responsible” for the cost of cargo screening, he said.
The agency hopes to reduce the potential for bottlenecks
and delays by establishing “certified cargo screening facilities.” These facilities will be authorized to screen cargo
before it reaches the airport, taking some of the pressure off
the airlines. Once cargo has been screened at a certified
facility, it can be palletized or wrapped, and airlines will not
have to re-inspect it.
That program is just getting off the ground, though. TSA
now is testing the concept with 14 freight forwarders, who
will receive grants to help pay for personnel training and
screening equipment. They’ll need the help: According to
Brittin, prices range from about $35,000 for an explosive
trace detector to $400,000 for a large X-ray machine.
Speaking on the panel with Brittin was Richard Fisher,
short takes
Two leading supply chain recruiting organizations, Logistics
Horizons and LogiPros, have joined forces to create
Optimum Supply Chain Recruiters. The newly formed
organization specializes in executive recruitment services for
distributors, manufacturers, retailers, and third-party logistics service providers. … In 2009, DHL plans to introduce a
new Economy Select International service, its first deferred
international (day-definite shipping) service for U.S. customers. The carrier will also launch inbound and outbound
International Express services, offering 9 a.m. and 12 noon
delivery to select destinations internationally. … American
Airlines Cargo Division (AA Cargo) is joining a new e-
go figure …
$0.046
The average increase in the per-mile cost of trucking
service for each $10 increase in a barrel of crude.
SOURCE: IHS GLOBAL INSIGHT
president of the Airforwarders Association. Fisher’s group
was instrumental in getting Congress to authorize the certified cargo screening program and is helping to build a
coalition of organizations that will lobby Congress to
underwrite the program’s cost. “A funded certified cargo
screening program will avoid airport bottlenecks,” Fisher
said, adding that he was not optimistic about getting much
attention from Congress anytime soon. Funded or not, the
cost of compliance for airlines, freight forwarders, and
cargo handlers will rise, and shippers should expect to pay
higher security surcharges before long, he warned.
They should also expect costly delays, says Steve Burke,
senior vice president of East Coast Airport Services, which
handles cargo for several airlines. His six-door facility adjacent to Boston’s Logan International Airport handles about 4
million pounds of freight each month, the majority of it on
skids or pallets. Once the law is in full effect, efficiency and
timeliness will be a thing of the past, he predicted at the symposium. “Instead of unloading 10 skids off a truck, I’ll be
unloading and checking in 1,000 loose pieces. … Trucks will
be backed up around the block waiting to unload.” Adding
capacity is not an option for Burke’s company, which lacks
both the physical space and the money for more dock doors,
dock workers, and screening equipment. With many other
air-cargo facilities around the country facing similar constraints, he said, the effects could be “earth-shattering.”
—Toby Gooley
freight initiative designed to help move the industry toward
paperless documentation. The program, which is being facilitated by the International Air Transport Association, effectively eliminates the need to send 12 paper documents with
air-cargo shipments. ... Ryder System has purchased the
assets of Transpacific Container Terminal Ltd., a Canadian
network of off-dock import/export container terminal facilities. Ryder has also acquired CRSA Logistics Ltd., which provides trans-Pacific end-to-end transportation management
and supply chain services for Canadian retailers. As part of
the deal, Ryder will also acquire CRSA facilities in Shanghai
and Hong Kong.
