High costs and inadequate equipment are challenging both airlines and freight forwarders.

Last August, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) implemented 100 percent screening for air cargo carried on passenger aircraft in the U.S.

Despite some anticipated hiccups, by most accounts the rollout was generally uneventful.

However, six months into the new screening rules, the industry is still facing obstacles when it comes to equipment, trade facilitation, and standardized procedures.

Indeed, the system was tested last October when explosives originating from Yemen and bound for the U.S. were placed on cargo and passenger planes.

“Recent global events have proven that there is a compelling need to attain the 100 percent goal sooner than originally suggested,” said TSA officials following that incident. They were referring to the upcoming 2013 deadline for screening of U.S.-bound air cargo. The proposed deadline is now December 31, 2011.


 

A multi-layered approach

After the incident in October, the debate over whether to screen all cargo or to apply a multi-layered approach that targets high-risk cargo was reignited.

In November, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) introduced legislation requiring 100 percent screening of all cargo on cargo planes. His bill proposes to screen 100 percent of cargo transported on all-cargo aircraft within three years, with half of the cargo screened within 18 months.

The trade, not surprisingly, views this as unrealistic and prohibitively costly.

Brandon Fried, executive director of the Washington, D.C-based Airforwarders Association, has been the voice of the industry and proponent of a multi-layered approach to screening.

In an interview with National Public Radio late last year, Fried explained the obvious differences between screening passenger baggage, which is relatively uniform in terms of weight ranges and dimensions, versus air cargo, which comes in all types of shapes, sizes, values, and even handling requirements (temperature- and time-sensitive freight, for instance).

“There are a lot of challenges that have to be addressed when you’re screening [air cargo],” he said. “And so it could employ X-ray, explosive trace detection. It could be canine. It could be opening up the box individually to see what’s inside. There are a lot of different methods that can be employed.”

Adding to challenges of air cargo screening are issues of cost and equipment.

According to Fried, cost is the biggest hurdle. “You know, this is an unfunded mandate,” he noted in his NPR interview. “Industry has had to step up to the plate, and it has. And it’s invested hundreds of millions of dollars to buy this [screening] equipment, to retrain personnel, to make changes in facilities to accommodate the equipment and the process. The other issue, of course, is technology. TSA has been slow to certify technology…we still don’t have a machine that will screen these pallets and containers, and that’s a very, very big challenge at this point.”




 

The view from the trenches

While lawmakers and industry groups battle on Capitol Hill, the freight forwarders and trucking firms that move cargo between the shippers and airlines have been dealing with their own challenges since the latest rules were phased in last August.

During a recent meeting of the Los Angeles Air Cargo Association (LAACA), an audience comprised largely of freight forwarders discussed their concerns with a panel made up of truckers based near LAX and two representatives from American Airlines.

Tom Griley of Griley Air Freight explained that one of the biggest problems was the amount of time truckers were forced to wait in line to pick up freight. Although he acknowledged the various pressures airlines face that are not related to screening, such as staffing, Griley explained that there was a considerable difference in wait time if a trucker arrived to pick up freight before 5 p.m. compared to after 5 p.m.

“After 5 p.m., nine of the airlines we monitored recently had wait times of 4 hours, while eleven airlines have wait times of 3 hours.”

Another trucking executive confirmed that wait times have gotten worse since the 100 percent cargo screening rules were implemented in August. He mentioned that excessive waiting had eroded profit considerably and that on occasion his drivers had been ticketed by LAX airport police for waiting in line so long.

Two executives from American Airlines who participated on the panel, Steven Kaszynski, Manager of Operations  - Exports, and Heath Knisely, Manager of Cargo Operations – Imports, emphasized the importance of accurate documentation and other “simple fixes” to help expedite cargo pickup.

Overall, truckers, airlines, and freight forwarders said the system remains paper- and time-intensive and the added burden of 100 percent cargo inspections has made it worse.




 

Better equipment is needed

Manufacturers such as Rapiscan, L3, and Smiths Detection are some of the leading technology innovators whose equipment is being used for air cargo screening around the world. However, many in the industry say most of the equipment in the market today remains expensive and is not widely available at many airports and/or air cargo facilities.

According to The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA): “Thus far, much of the equipment currently certified for use (by the TSA) is most appropriate for the passenger screening environment and is ill-suited to the air cargo environment where palletized or other consolidated shipments are the norm.

Likewise, Giovanni Bisignani, head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said last November that governments and industry need to speed up the development of equipment such as oversized X-ray machines to screen the air cargo containers that are loaded with freight and placed on aircraft. WT