TSA to require 100% air cargo inspection by Dec. 31

TSA to require 100% air cargo inspection by Dec. 31    The U.S. Transportation Security Administration said Friday it plans to reach its goal of screening all air cargo arriving by passenger airline from foreign destinations by the end of the year, accelerating its timetable by more than a year.
   Last August, the agency began full enforcement of a congressional mandate that all cargo on passenger planes by screened at the piece level. The screening is done by airlines or in advance by their customers who have been certified to self-inspect shipments to speed up processing at the airport, prevent damage by other parties tearing apart consolidated loads to check each item, and avoid inspection fees. Companies can use X-ray and explosive trace detection machines, or physical searches to do the screening.
   TSA and the airline industry were able to achieve the 100-percent screening goal for domestic and international flights originating in the United States, but the agency faced challenges achieving the same result on international inbound flights because it doesn’t have jurisdiction to impose regulations on foreign freight forwarders and shippers to screen cargo before departure, and didn’t want to economically harm airlines by placing the entire requirement on them. Many nations don’t have comprehensive air cargo screening programs and private-sector partnerships in place yet and the United States has to negotiate for changes to their security regimes.
   The TSA has gradually increased the security requirement on foreign airlines and domestic airlines flying international routes to the point that more than two-thirds of cargo is now screened according to the law.
   Last June, Assistant Administrator John Sammon told a Senate committee that it would take until 2013 to achieve the international screening component up to the 100 percent level.
   ‘Recent global events have proven that there is a compelling need to attain the 100 percent goal sooner than originally suggested,’ the TSA said in a notice to organizations representing the air cargo industry.

Related News •   TSA offers airlines option for inbound cargo screening •   Finding ‘the sweet spot’ •   Is Customs? IT system ready for advance data? •   Picking up the pace

   The reference is to the foiled bomb plot on Oct. 29 in which an al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen tried to blow up a UPS and FedEx cargo planes with plastic explosives hidden inside computer printer cartridges.
   The TSA said it decided to move faster to full compliance because airlines are already screening a large amount of the inbound cargo.
   ‘Many air carriers, including a high number of widebody operators, are already at or close to 100 percent screening of air cargo inbound to the United States,’ the notice said.
   The new measures likely would require airlines to further adjust their procedures for accepting freight at overseas locations so that cargo can be screened in time before flight departure, the TSA said. It recommended that airlines notify freight forwarders, shippers, ground delivery companies and other partners of the pending rule and the potential impact it may have on their supply chains.
   Air carriers will have 30 to 45 days to comment on the proposed 100 percent screening requirement before TSA issues a final rule.
   To read more about the U.S. government’s efforts to protect the air cargo supply chain from terrorists, read ‘Air Cargo’s Y2K’ (September, American Shipper, page 30) and ‘Show Me the DATA!’ (January American Shipper, page 28). ‘ Eric Kulisch