interview
Brandon Fried, executive director of the Airforwarders Association (AfA) –a Washington DC-based body that acts as a voice for US air freight forwarders –believes that security is the number one focus of the country’s cargo agents right now
The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is not going to insist on a deadline of 31 December for the screening of all air cargo coming into the USA. That decision must have been met with a collective sigh of relief from you and your members?
It’s good that TSA has listened to us and realised the depth of the challenge of screening 100 percent of all inbound cargo. It seems now that TSA will move at its own pace. That
doesn’t mean, of course, that cargo screening is any less of an issue – most nations appear convinced of the need to improve their security processes and reach accord with the US on how air freight moving to the US should be made
All the differences between countries have to be acknowledged and then worked through”
secure – just that there is more time available to reach agreements with all the countries from which air freight enters the United States.
The US government is doing its utmost to ensure the security of freight entering the US and, thereby, American citizens. But can it achieve this without the help of all of America’s foreign trade partners?
Any solution to the question of maximising the security of air freight has to be found in complete and global harmony. All the differences between countries have to be acknowledged and then worked through.
Your members are facing any number of other challenges at the moment. The general state of the global economy and its consequent impact on the demand for air freight services must be a source of concern?
The big cargo agents have been hit very hard, while the small and medium-sized forwarders have been able to offer creative solutions to their customers –for example, by mixing
18 AIR LOGISTICS CHINA
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