“There’s not going to be a meltdown in the supply chain” reassures Dave Brooks, president of American Airlines Cargo. But Brooks does concede there may be “a few headaches” initially, and unprepared shippers could face delays.

Overall, the Transportation Security Administration – the US government agency tasked with implementing the 100 per cent screening mandate, says US shippers met the 1 May interim goal of screening 75 per cent of cargo carried in the belly holds of passenger aircraft. But according to Brooks it’s “the remaining cargo to be screened that is going to be amongst the most challenging.

“It’s going to be the largest consignments, the consignments with the largest piece counts that will be the challenge and we have to be ready for that. The focus through all of this is compliance. We may not be happy with this law, but we’re at a point now that we have to show we’re complying 100 per cent, screening 100 per cent of the time,” he said in a roundtable webcast recently.

Similarly Ram Menen, Emirates SkyCargo divisional senior vice president, believes that for US carriers achieving 100 per cent screening will be quite challenging, he says acknowledging that his carrier’s operations in the US are small compared to American operators.“But, yes, it is achievable,” he adds.

“However, it requires process changes, as well as, a slowdown in the movement of cargo.”

Looming concerns
Brandon Fried, Airforwarders Association (AFA) executive director, emphasises that despite the significant progress that has been made by carriers and their air freight partners in screening cargo on passenger planes, major challenges still lie ahead. Serious issues have yet to be resolved, he says. These include the lack of approved pallet screening technology, ongoing financial barriers to participation, and the future of air cargo security policy in general.

Both the air cargo industry and the TSA have expressed concern over these issues. Now that the August deadline is getting closer, even TSA officials have expressed concern that the target date may be unrealistic and not capable of being fully met.

Making the latest stir is a 3 March comment by Gale D. Rossides, TSA acting administrator, who remarked during a recent Congressional hearing that while meeting the 100 per cent screening goal by August was feasible for domestic cargo, it’s probably two years away for international air cargo arriving in the US. She estimates that by 1 August TSA will probably only be capable of screening 65 per cent of cargo on international passenger flights. The reason, she says, are problems getting cooperation from the governments of 20 countries that are responsible for nearly 85 per cent of air freight shipments to the US.

The US imports 1.5 million tonnes of airfreight a year from 97 countries and this most recent revelation certainly puts a hole in US domestic efforts. While the TSA has publicly indicated that air cargo exported to the US will not face the 100 per cent screening mandate yet, TSA has increased screening requirements that need to be fulfilled by the air carrier transporting cargo to the country.

British International Freight Association Director John O’Connell maintains that the Department of Homeland Security has underestimated the enormity of scanning all containers, not to mention the costs to governments and the limitations of the available technology. Not only is 100 per cent screening unobtainable, he says; 100 per cent scanning will slow commerce and ultimately increase consumer prices.

“We remain optimistic, however, that the TSA and the European Union will reach an agreement for the harmonisation of security programmes in the future,” says James LoBello, head of security for the Americas, Lufthansa Cargo. “Harmonisation remains the key for a successful air transportation chain that will ensure the utmost in security while allowing the free flow of trade between nations.”

Supply chain participation
Nevertheless 100 per cent screening by 1 August is the law in the US and will be implemented with no exceptions, rollbacks or escape clauses despite its many controversies. Certainly one of these controversies is that the law also states that cargo must be scanned at the “piece level”—not in bulk.

This means large shipments stacked on skids and wrapped in plastic must be unwrapped, unstacked and broken down into individual cargo pieces in order to pass through a variety of scanning devices and techniques. Of course, after scanning, the shipments must be restacked and rewrapped. Only then will they be legal to put that cargo on a plane.

These efforts come at a great cost, especially given the lack of TSA-certified screening technology to inspect large air cargo skids and pallets. “Breaking down consolidated shipments to conduct screening is not practical because it creates a choke point at the airport cargo facility,” writes a coalition of representatives from the industry including the International Air Transport Association, the US Air Transport Association, American Clinical Laboratory Association, Society of American Florists and National Retail Federation in a letter to the US House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security.

“The process of disassembling consolidated shipments, screening each piece and, finally, reconsolidating the pieces for loading in the belly of an aircraft would be both inefficient and cumbersome,” the letter continues. “Moreover, shipments of highvalue items, such as electronics and pharmaceuticals, are packaged into tamper-evident consumer packaging at the manufacturers’ premises to ensure the integrity of the merchandise during transportation. From a time and efficiency standpoint, once the skids are secured for transportation, shipper packaging should not be broken to screen at the inner piece level.”

Currently, canines are the only screening method available that does not require pallets to be disassembled for screening. “[And] they are the most effective screening method for all types and configurations of cargo, and that will be the case for the foreseeable future,” the coalition states. But herein lies another problem. There aren’t enough TSA proprietary canines deployed at airports to screen such shipments on every widebody passenger flight.

As a result of the problems arising from this screening quagmire and the havoc it would most certainly wreak at major gateway hubs in the US, the TSA has developed a programme called the Certified Cargo Screening Program (CCSP) that it hopes will allow the private sector to meet the 100 per cent requirement without significant disruptions to the supply chain.

That’s because CCSP enables a high percentage of air cargo screening to be performed upstream in the supply chain such as the shippers’ or freight forwarders’ premises where the cargo can be screened more easily at the piece level as the TSA requires. Another advantage to offsite screening is it can be fulfilled prior to airline acceptance from certain regulated parties.

But, depending on the station and the concentration of CCSP participants, a majority of the screening still remains in the hands of the air carrier. The combination of CCSP and Air Carrier security programmes will remain an industry team effort to meet the mandate set forth by the US Congress.

But as Ed Chism, cargo manager for Emirates SkyCargo, North America, points out, forwarders that are certified by the TSA as an Indirect Air Carrier are involved in all security programmes. “Legislation regarding 100 per cent screening includes provisions for IAC forwarders and direct shippers to become screening certified (CCSF) and compliant with all requirements,” he says. “In this regard, many forwarders have become certified and additional forwarders being certified on an ongoing basis.”

Shared responsibilities
Nearly every airline is in favour of the CCSP, since it removes the screening requirement from being entirely the airlines’ responsibility. “[We] believe it can greatly benefit customers who choose to participate,” comments Brooks. “Through broad private sector CCSP participation, we can mitigate costly delays by spreading the screening process throughout the supply chain. The benefit to the shippers and forwarders is that if they do it themselves and present the shipments to carriers as ‘screened’, they will have a better experience at the dock and it will cost them less money,” he adds.

AA Cargo, which estimates it has spent nearly US$10 million preparing for the 100 per cent mandate, does not outsource its own screening processes, but screens in-house to keep costs down. “We have a variety of equipment, in addition to other methods, to do screening for customers who tender unscreened cargo,” Brooks says. “We strongly encourage our customers to join TSA’s CCSP programme, however, which allows them to tender screened cargo.”

Brooks says he doesn’t anticipate delays to flights saying, “if we do have freight that’s not screened, the plane’s going to leave without the freight, at least in the case of a passenger aircraft and we’ll have to figure out how to reaccommodate it.” He added that shippers and forwarders sending unscreened cargo to the airport will be asked to send it “many hours earlier”.

While Fried doesn’t see the issue of screening causing bottlenecks at smaller US airports where mostly single-aisle, narrowbody aircraft operate, it’s the 18 gateway airports that will be more of a problem. “The TSA has not certified a single piece of technology that can screen pallets and containers that contain multiple commodities. So the result is what becomes a piece-level mandate and it becomes a real estate issue at airports. Do the carriers have the space to screen each piece individually? Probably not and that’s where our industry has to help and its prudent to do it before it gets to the airport,” he says.

Emirates, cargo manager Chism notes that the Dubai-based carrier has already been screening 100 per cent of all cargo into and out of the US for a number of years. “We are vigilant about maintaining the security of all our shipments and have sophisticated screening equipment at all of our stations,” he says.

“Screening has not caused delays to cargo on Emirates flights as we have built in time for it in our schedules.” Emirates’ biggest cargo market is Hong Kong/China where it operates 26 Boeing 747 and 777 freighters a week into the Far East on top of its 100-plus wide-body passenger aircraft.

“We can carry between 15 and 20 tonnes of cargo per flight,” says Chism in reference to the average belly capacity of Emirates passenger fleet. “With these volumes (which are still growing at a double-digit percentage), it is imperative that our security screening process is both meticulous and swift, which we are confident we have achieved over the last few years.”

Thus while many carriers prefer the screening to be done upstream in the supply chain, Emirates likes to maintain control over this vital process. “We operate direct services to more than 100 cities on six continents and we want to ensure that the high Emirates standards are maintained throughout. This way we have full control over the screening process.”

Lufthansa Cargo is another carrier that prefers to take control of the screening aspect and has been quick to gear up for the mandate. “Lufthansa Cargo has worked heavily to avoid any inconveniences for our customers,” comments LoBello, “With our modern technology and redesigned processes we are well prepared to operate the flights without delays caused by the tightened security regulations.”

For customers in Asia, Lufthansa fulfills screening requirements from its hub locations within Europe, LoBello states. Lufthansa Cargo has invested heavily in modern screening technology, increased its resources, redesigned processes and implemented advanced training for its staff.

All stations in the US are equipped with various technological screening solutions, owned by Lufthansa Cargo, to meet the volume of cargo handled. To get the task done, Lufthansa Cargo relies on in-sourcing screening via its own internal staff, and outsourcing to leading partners of the security industry. In fact, in February, it teamed up with Smiths Detection for best-in-class, TSA-approved screening technologies like x-ray and explosives trace detection systems, and Covenant Aviation Security for on-site security services.

“The partnership provides both large and small freight forwarders and shippers with a helpful and unique array of air cargo solutions that they may not have access to or the resources available to implement themselves,” states Mark Laustra, vice president of Homeland Security, Smiths Detection.

Smiths Detection brings to the offering cutting-edge explosives trace detection solutions as well as market leading dual and multi-view x-ray systems that range in size from screening break-bulk cargo to entire pallet screening.

“Smiths Detection is the only company to offer these two key technologies in satisfying the mandate,” Laustra says.

CCSP process
While CCSP participation offers a practical solution, it can also be very expensive. To participate, freight forwarders and other supply-chain participants must purchase equipment and train employees to carry out the programme. Those in the industry, however, feel strongly that the voluntary nature of programme participation should be a key concept, allowing shippers the flexibility to choose where screening most efficiently occurs. As AA Cargo states in a position paper, if the airlines were the only stakeholder screening massive volumes of cargo at airports, backlogs and delays would be almost guaranteed.

“This is particularly problematic for manufacturers and retailers that rely on an efficient supply chain,” AA Cargo states. “Moreover, those businesses moving cargo that can be spoiled by delays (such as produce or seafood) or products that impact health (such as medicines) face even greater challenges.”

Security experts also suggest that cargo shipments are most vulnerable to exploitation while not in movement. Backlogs at airports could result in greater security risks. Consequently, forwarders, logistics operators, and carriers are becoming certified to operate as CCSFs capable of participating in the CCSP, although industry concerns contend certification is not happening fast enough. Currently, the number of shippers involved in CCSP is a small portion of the overall screening percentage in relation to tonnage transported.

“However, this small percentage typically comes from sectors of the market that manufacture or produce sensitive commodities,” Lufthansa’s LoBello adds. “Therefore, their participation as a CCSP is extremely important to the industry. Typically larger concentrations of forwarder CCSP participants are located at the top gateways in the US and have contributed significantly in those markets.” Speaking at the webcast roundtable Doug Britten, general manager air cargo, TSA said over 700 shippers and forwarders had been certified as at end-May.

To be certified, participants must implement a variety of TSA standard security steps, including background checks on personnel and the use of radiofrequency identification (RFID). Only when audited and certified by the TSA can shippers and manufacturers deliver cargo to the airlines without the need for additional screening at the airport.

CCSP certified logistics operators include Power Freight Systems, which serves the telecommunications, semiconductor, information technology, aerospace and medical equipment industries; and Texas-based Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), which, in June 2009, became the first cargo handler to offer independent CCSF locations in more than one state following the TSA certification of its Pittsburgh International Airport operation.

“While we recognise that there is a limited need for the third-party screening facilities right now, we will continue to certify our cargo facilities in anticipation of the August 2010 TSA mandate,” says Karen Avestruz, WFS’ director, Cargo Security and Compliance. “WFS will be well-positioned to provide screening services to our cargo community partners to fully meet this requirement.”

Other shippers in industries such as perishables, high tech goods, and pharmaceuticals are also joining the CCSP programme. Ocean Beauty Seafood LLC of Seattle, Washington, which moves more than a million pounds of fish a year, offers one such example. Containers of Ocean Beauty’s salmon, whitefish and rockfish are checked by hand before the cargo heads to the company’s air carrier provider. Without the certification, packages of Ocean Beauty’s halibut and cod would be unsealed at a cargo facility before joining checked luggage. “We did not want our fish boxes opened up at the airport and changing the atmosphere inside the box that we had worked so hard to ensure,” states Kan Koslosky, director of supply chain management.

While the CCSP programme is voluntary, those manufacturers or shippers who choose not to participate in the CCSP need to be aware that they must queue their cargo at the airports and pay an additional fee so the airlines can conduct screening on their behalf. And as Brooks points out, breaking down, scanning and rebuilding pallets is expensive and time consuming and “we will be increasing our screening fees “dramatically” from 1 August.”