transportationreport
BY MARK B. SOLOMON, SENIOR EDITOR
the program
The requirement to inspect
all U.S. cargo moving in
passenger planes kicks in
this month. If more shippers
don’t sign on to the
IT IS THE SUPPLY CHAIN EQUIVALENT OF PUTTING A SQUARE PEG IN A
round hole: An industry built on speed of delivery is being forced to stop in mid-process
and examine every piece of cargo before it is loaded into the bellies of passenger planes.
As of Aug. 1, all shipments to be carried on passenger aircraft— 3 billion pounds
each year moving in U.S. domestic or export commerce—must be screened or physically inspected prior to loading. Compliance with that mandate may prove to be
the air-cargo industry’s biggest challenge of the post-9/11 era.
government’s prescreening
program, there could be
turbulence ahead.
Ready or not?
The mandate had yet to take effect when this issue went to press in late July, but in
June, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which oversees the program, said it was confident the transition would take place with minimal disruption. “Both we and the industry are ready” for the Aug. 1 deadline, John Sammon,
the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant administrator, transportation-sector network management, said at a June 30 congressional hearing.
But the industry has yet to walk the walk, and the path is littered with mines. On
