US efforts to push through 100% cargo screening by the end of this year will come unstuck unless standard global security rules can be agreed in the coming months, according to Andrew Herdman, Director General of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA).
He said the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) aim of introducing 100% cargo screening this year for all air cargo on international passenger flights to the US – two years earlier than planned – would require a huge degree of co-operation between agencies in different countries or the air cargo industry could grind to a halt.
“It remains to be seen if the US deadline is feasible,” he told IFW in an exclusive interview to be published in full this Thursday.
“We’ve been wrestling with this for years and eventually it comes down to some form of known-shipper system,” he said.
“The problem at present is that different countries are pushing different security systems and there is a lack of standardization and an unwillingness by many governments to recognize what’s going on elsewhere.
“If the US is pushing for100% then there needs to be a lot of dialogue about how to standardize systems otherwise we’ll be duplicating efforts and adding costs which could cripple the industry and those that rely on it.
“We saw last year with volcanic ash what happens when air cargo routes are closed – everything slows down or stops. The West relies on air freight as a key service so hopefully we can get a common system we can all live with.
“The TSA is engaging on this which is a positive.”
Mike King | Tue, 8 Feb 2011