THE International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) has welcomed the US Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) U-turn on forcing operators to provide burdensome, monthly air cargo screening volume reports.
The decision comes less than a year after TIACA called for the regulation to be axed warning it was needlessly putting a strain on the industry.
“This [decision] will significantly relieve the reporting burden on the industry, saving many labour and IT hours,” says Doug Brittin, TIACA’s secretary general.
“All passenger carriers and over 1,200 certified freight forwarders and shippers in the US have been required to measure and provide these reports monthly. We applaud this move as a positive step towards adopting a risk-based approach versus forensic compliance.”
Brittin argues that regular and ongoing inspections of the industry’s cargo screening processes made the reports unnecessary. He suggests personnel and IT resources being used to fulfil this requirement could be put to better use.
Last September, the association’s chairman Oliver Evans wrote to TSA Administrator John Pistole commending the TSA’s collaborative approach to implementing security programmes and its successful implementation of 100 per cent mandatory screening for all cargo on passenger ‘planes into and out of US airports.
Evans also called for TSA’s screening achievement to be certified and the volumes reporting requirement to be lifted.
“We are delighted the requirements have now been lifted,” he enthuses. “This move allows industry and government to properly focus limited resources on measures that materially benefit security.
“We [TIACA] represent all sections of the airfreight supply chain and we are dedicated to continuing our close work with regulators to ensure global cargo security measures are effective and efficient, while ensuring the flow of commerce.”
The US government demanded 100 per cent screening of all cargo shipments on passenger aircraft in and out of US airports immediately following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001.
