The new requirement is a sign that officials are concerned the industry has not taken enough voluntary measures to help meet the Aug. 1 mandate to screen all cargo on passenger planes.
The agency is conducting a full schedule of webinars and seminars around the country to encourage shippers and logistics companies to take advantage of its Certified Cargo Screening Program, but so far adoption among shippers has been far below expectations. The program allows air cargo customers to self-screen cargo themselves using physical checks or equipment such as X-ray or explosive trace detection machines. The pre-screening process is designed to alleviate potential backlogs at airline facilities and give shippers confidence their shipments won't be rechecked and possibly damaged or compromised.
Airlines will be able to comment on the intermediate requirement to reaching 100 percent screening.
Under a 2007 security law, half of all air cargo on passenger aircraft had to be screened as of Feb. 1, 2009. The law applies to the piece level, meaning half — and now 75 percent — of pieces in a multilot pallet must be checked.
To help achieve the intermediate goal last year, the agency ordered airlines to screen all cargo placed on narrow-body planes.
To read more about the slow start to the CCSP program, read 'Collateral Damage?' (February American Shipper, pages 23-27). ' Eric Kulisch
