Airfreight does not need 100% scanning, says Shippers’ Voice

"Killing the air freight industry with draconian security procedures would be giving the terrorists a result they would long to see," says Traill.

Traill says that the most effective way to detect and deter anyone intending to use airfreight to carry out an attack is through intelligence.

"There are regulations now in the US and Europe that require information – about the freight, its origins and destination, the people handling it and its route – to be sent in advance of its arrival. This means, in practice, that most air cargo carriers will not want to even take-off before being sure that the freight they carry has been cleared by the security authorities," says Traill.

He believes that enabling people in the chain to perform security checks and maintain the security through the transport chain, (themselves authorised to do so based on the systems and practices they deploy), is not a weakness of security but a strength.

"Provided the system is properly policed, this multi-tiered approach to security in air freight is far more effective than scanning everything (especially when we know the technology is not perfect) and watching the airfreight industry collapse under the weight of delays and excessive costs," he says.

He admits that some of these programs are still being implemented around Europe, and indeed elsewhere around the world, but the industry and the authorities are getting their act together, and increasing the quantity, standard and variety of security procedures being implemented. He points out that now is not the time to undermine these initiatives in any knee jerk reaction to the latest threat.