ISSUE 4 2010
NEWS
International air transport organisations and individual companies are racing to tighten air cargo security measures following the recent finding of explosive devices in shipments on board aircraft from the Yemen and in Greece, writes Phil Hastings. They want to get constructive industry ideas on the table before governments and regulatory bodies around the world commit the sector to other changes which, they fear, could be costly to implement and even threaten the viability of some air cargo operations. In Europe, for example, an emergency meeting of the EU Aviation Safety Committee has already agreed on several principles relating to transfer cargo and mail entering the EU from third countries, including “risk-based”, security controls and has set up an ad hoc group charged with producing new security ideas by the end of November. The European Commission
was due to report on proposed follow-up measures to the EU Council of Transport Ministers at their meeting on 2 December “with a view to deciding further action”. The urgency of the issue
from an air cargo industry perspective was highlighted at the 25th International Air Cargo Forum in Amsterdam
– held in early November just days after the explosive devices were discovered. TIACA (The International Air Cargo Association), IATA (International Air Transport Association), FIATA (International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations) and the GSF (Global Shippers’ Forum) publicly signed a letter of intent to establish an advisory group to present a single air cargo industry voice to worldwide regulatory authorities. In a subsequent forum session,
Peter Bakker, CEO of Netherlands- based global express and mail group TNT, pointed out that in addition to the explosive devices discovered in two air freight shipments originating in Yemen and destined for the US, one had also recently been found on a TNT freighter flying out of Athens, Greece, to its main European air hub in Liege, Belgium. “So it is not just Yemen, it is not just a Middle East problem – this could happen anywhere,” he stated. Ram Menen, divisional senior
vice president cargo for Middle East carrier Emirates, told another forum session that the incidents were “probably a game changer” for the worldwide air cargo industry. He pointed out that in one instance an explosive device had travelled on two separate aircraft before being discovered. “To me, it looks as if that will change the way we handle security – but what the changes
Brussels to the rescue
EU interior ministers meeting in Brussels on 8 November set up a temporary ad hoc group of transport and security experts to improve airfreight security. They are due to publish their proposals by 2 December. However, they did not endorse a German plan to create a blacklist of airports in countries where terrorism is a problem, along the lines of the existing blacklist of unsafe airlines. Earlier, EU aviation experts
drew up guidelines on 5 November to improve control of freight and mail from third
countries inbound into the European Union. They suggested a risk-based approach together with safety standards for the transfer of freight and mail within the EU, in cooperation with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and other major international partners, such as the US. They also called on the EU to rapidly implement Directive 300/2008 on aviation security and stressed the importance of research into improved screening methods and developing innovative security technologies.
UPS crash ‘was not a bomb’
The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) said that there was no evidence that the UPS Boeing 747- 400 that crashed near Dubai on 3 September had been downed by an explosion. GCAA said it had made a further investigation into the crash following claims by Al Qaeda that it had caused the crash. The two pilots on board the stricken plane, who both died in the crash, reported seeing dense smoke in the cockpit. But GCAA said its investigations showed no acoustic evidence
or any forensic signature that would suggest that a bomb had gone off in the plane.
will be, I have no idea yet.” TNT’s Bakker said the decision
TNT’s Peter Bakker: Security not just a Middle East problem
by TIACA and other organisations to set up an advisory group to work with worldwide regulatory authorities on air cargo security issues was well timed “but must also be put in place extraordinarily fast because the authorities will come up with suggestions about what to do before we know it. In
my view, the best way to work with authorities and regulators is to be on their table working together rather than waiting for them to issue whatever they have cooked up themselves,” he added.
l TNT Express announced
in mid-November that it was taking a series of additional measures to protect customers, consignments, employees and
3 Industry moves quickly to beef up sytems its networks from the threat of
bomb-parcels. “The company has reinforced air and ground security controls, including the screening of consignments, in all countries where it operates,” it stated. “This covers TNT’s own operations but also those of its associates, subcontractors and partner airlines involved in the transportation of TNT shipments.”
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