TSA expels Minnesota forwarder from air cargo program

TSA expels Minnesota forwarder from air cargo program    The Transportation Security Administration has banned Professional Export Services, an Eagan, Minn.-based air freight forwarder, from tendering cargo shipments on passenger planes because of repeated security violations.
   Professional Export Services placed at least 48 shipments from unknown shippers on passenger planes and failed to provide security training for employees or required cargo security information to contractors, the TSA said last week.
   Air cargo security rules require freight forwarders to only accept freight from known shippers with a prior shipping history and follow specific criteria for determining the legitimacy of new shippers.
   Congressional investigators have criticized TSA in the past for the paucity of inspections conducted at freight forwarder facilities and the lack of enforcement to make sure forwarders follow Known Shipper procedures.
   Any passenger carrier that accepts a shipment from Professional Export Services, or any other indirect air carrier that has had its shipping authority revoked, could face a civil fine of up to $25,000 per violation.
   Professional is the third freight forwarder penalized this year by TSA for lax security. TSA revoked the indirect air carrier certificate for J.H. World Express, Los Angeles, and Inter-Shipping Corp., Miami, and denied the re-approval of Aramex International Courier, which has operations in New York and Washington, D.C.