Proposed US air cargo screening bill is early warning for transportation planners

When passed, the recently proposed Air Cargo Security Act extends the 100% screening requirement currently mandated for cargo being shipped on passenger flights to include all air cargo, whether onboard freighters or scheduled passenger flights.

According to cargo security professional and ComSec co-founder Jason Watson, this move is essential to providing levels of safety that begin to align with current threats being made to the US economy by the targeting of the freight industry.

"We’ve known that plans have been in the works for some time to advance air cargo security measures and, with this action, the time is right for supply chain professionals to start considering their approach to meeting demands for increased security," said Watson.

Under the Markey bill, the Department of Homeland Security is being directed to address three key areas of dedicated air cargo shipping:

• The creation of a set of regulations for screening 100% of cargo transported on all-cargo aircraft within three years, achieving 50% of all cargo being screened within eighteen months of passage of the legislation

• The establishment of a system for the regular inspection of shipping facilities and associated security procedures for the handling of air cargo transported on all-cargo planes to ensure that appropriate security controls, systems, and protocols are being used

• The creation of arrangements with government authorities of foreign countries ensuring that inspections are conducted on a regular basis at shipping facilities for cargo being transported by air to the US

"Historically, the air cargo industry has been dominated by the creation and management of complex scheduling activities and the safe, efficient and effective operation of aircraft in the long-haul transit of cargo," said Watson. "Experience suggests that the assignment of stopping terrorist activity in the air cargo component of the supply chain calls for an innovative solution from the private sector that ties directly into the highly collaborative end-to-end cargo transportation system."

ComSec International is a cargo security service provider specialising in advanced technology cargo screening. The company operates a facility at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Quelle: eyefortransport
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