The Air Freight Council of NSW (AFC NSW) has released new Airfreight Security Report, which is aimed at understanding and addressing the demands of today’s heightened security environment.

The project, which was carried out by security consultancy Intelligent Risks (IR) Pty Limited, was undertaken to review the effectiveness and determine the impact of Australian security legislation and regulations affecting air cargo operators using Sydney.

While the Airfreight Security project focused primarily on the impact on the industry of post-September 11th aviation security legislation and regulations, it also covered in-depth, wider security issues related to law enforcement and air cargo security.

The Council said the response to the project from industry was positive and a number of common threads had been identified regarding industry’s perception of current security issues.

These included the need to ensure that the impact upon industry of any security requirements is fully appreciated by government prior to their imposition and implementation and a desire for closer co-operation between industry and the various policing organisations on security and crime related matters.

The Australian and NSW Governments, which have already implemented a number of security arrangements, indicated strong interest in the report’s findings and, in conjunction with the AFC NSW, are in the process of identifying follow-on actions that will further address industry wide issues, highlighted in the report.