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INDUSTRY LOOKS TO ACHIEVE 100% CARGO SCREENING BUT


DEADLINES MISSED By CHRIS YATES


A


ugust will see another deadline missed to deliver effective security for belly-hold freight on passenger flights. The news was broken by Gale Rossides, Acting


Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), in testimony before the Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on Homeland Security in the US House of Representatives in early March. Rossides told the subcommittee that while 100 percent


screening of belly-hold cargo on domestic flights would be achieved by the deadline, it would take up to another two years before the same could be said for inbound international belly- hold cargo.


The delay has been caused by problems in getting foreign government cooperation. Some 20 core countries are responsible for around 85 percent of air freight shipments to the US. Delegates at the 2nd Lufthansa Cargo Security Conference held in Frankfurt heard that this failure in getting agreements was largely of TSA's own making though. Warren Miller, the TSA's International Air Cargo Branch Chief, admitted that the organisation had initially been “myopic” in its approach to achieving 100 percent screening, given a primary focus on purely domestic rather than domestic and international air freight security.


He went on to say that TSA is “not even at pilot stage” in rolling out a long term, layered approach based around risk targeting. Aside from stating that rhetoric is poles apart from reality, he


proffered only that US experience indicated that focus on the supply chain was the best way forward for imports, adding the usual mantra about harmonising and strengthening global standards.


WHICH VERSION BEST VERSION A cynic might argue that the initially myopic focus he spoke about, was driven by a belief held in Washington D.C. that the rest of the world would simply roll over and accept that their way is the best way and the only game in town. The cynics would, undoubtedly, be correct in that assertion. Europe has, in part, already bent to US will. European Commission (EU) regulation 300/2008 incorporates many of the tougher US requirements and replaces previously published regulation enforced after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Eckard Seebohm, Head of Aviation Security, European Commission (EC), is on record diplomatically stating that a working group comprising shippers, forwarders, airlines and airports, had examined all the issues pertaining to air-freight security and concluded that mistakes had been made when the


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previous regulation ( 2320/2002) passed into law. Consequently, 300/2008 includes three specific and much


more robust elements (independent validation of known consignors; a mandatory EU cargo database embracing known and unknown or unaccredited consignors and a distinction between direct and transit cargo) which match US policy. Introducing new regulation is one thing but turning regulation into practice is quite another though. Seebohm admits that there are huge challenges ahead for the aviation industry and the supply chain, not least of which is the requirement for independent validation of known consignors. He is also on record stating that the US may just have to an accept an alternative (such as sniffer dogs) to x-raying every item of belly- hold freight, given that the piece level 100 percent screening requirement favoured by the TSA could potentially bring air-freight movement between Europe and the US to a grinding halt if a hardware only solution were to be rigidly enforced. A disconnect also remains in respect to timing.


TSA's


Rossides states that it will take another two years before 100 percent international air-freight screening will be achieved. Seebohm favours a three-year transition period since some countries remain woefully behind the curve in their preparations.


FOCUS ON COMPLIANCE With EC regulation 300/2008 having just become law and much debate consequently still raging between regulators and within the industry over how best to achieve compliance, the key issues will be outlined and discussed in detail at the forthcom- ing Transport Security Expo & Conference, being held 14-15 September at London Olympia.


This annual event will bring focus to many of the fundamental issues the regulation raises, help in identifying who within the extended supply chain has responsibility for what and attempt to answer the vexed at what cost question. Principal speakers from the International Air Transport Association


(IATA), Association of European Airlines (AEA), Swissport, CEVA Logistics, Cargolux and DHL amongst others, will share knowledge and invite in-depth discussion on achieving a 100 percent cargo screening regime within a one-stop security environment. Considerable disquiet remains about the industry's ability to


secure the supply chain fully given that very many questions remain perplexedly unanswered at the regulatory level. Not least of these questions is the unknown cost of accreditation and validation. How many consignors within the supply chain become accredited will depend on both the bottom line figure and how onerous the process of validation is.


Register now for FREE instant access to ASI online by visiting www.asi-mag.com June 2010 Aviationsecurityinternational


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