One Tough Cop Security At CNS

     Harald Zielinski is the Lufthansa Cargo security guru.
     With heavy police background, including street service in Frankfurt (his dad Leo was also a member of the Frankfurt Police Force) Harald before he joined Lufthansa at the cargo headquarters at FRA was already by any measure, one tough cop.
     We are standing outside in a hallway between sessions at CNS just as the bell rings for everyone to go back into the converted ballroom that does double duty for the CNS meetings and sessions.
     Harald has just been singled out in LH Cargo boss Carsten Spohr’s keynote speech in front of the CNS Partnership Conference Day Two as having more people working for him than almost anyone else in the entire Lufthansa Cargo empire.
     But Harald is not paying attention to that right now.
     He has another axe to grind.
     Harald, it should be mentioned is the best interview because he always tells it like it is.
     He is also as good as it gets when it comes to air cargo security.
     We wonder why he is not on the security panels at CNS, then decide that this year of 2007 having been unofficially declared “Year Of The Germans at CNS,” probably caused somebody to think a better balance could be struck without one more voice from Deutschland.
     That was a wrong decision, or maybe just an oversight at a CNS that so far has been almost all right.
     Harald Zielinski is somebody you pay to walk down the street with you.
     He is the smartest security expert in air cargo today, period.
     “TSA is a terrific challenge to everybody.
     “The rules that TSA wants to impose worldwide rarely take into account what is going on in other countries.
     “It’s like they are selling a suit of clothes and are imposing a one size fits all rule.
     “The truth is that cargo security is and can also be market and situationally specific.
     “Sure there are some basic benchmarks.
     “We can only wonder how TSA would react if Europe imposed some security rules that had to be adhered to by USA airlines, even if in some cases those mandates made no sense?
     “We have engaged in intensive cooperation all around and can say that right now around 95 percent of the shipments we handle measure up to the new security rules.
     “EU has raised the bar for training security personnel and specified new standards for freight documentation.
     “As TSA has announced tightened rules for air cargo bound to and from USA, we are working same into our processes, modifying our IT systems and training staff.
     “But TSA new rules want to go far beyond the traditional relationship and put demands on shipments moving about our systems that in some cases have nothing to do with USA traffic.
     “That is simply not right.”
     “Look we are investing in new equipment because it is the right thing to do as the TSA is also tightening the rules for screening cargo.
     “We’re setting standards in Europe and the USA, though much remains to be done and we’re constantly on a learning curve.
     “In India and China as well, the authorities in those two key airfreight market are making a start on establishing a security regime.
     “The point of all this is that air cargo in it’s own self interest needs to insist upon and establish a uniform, practicable standard for the entire industry before politicians everywhere cook up some rules that make no sense and also cost millions.
     “Security lets no one off the hook.
     “It is a challenge of our times for everybody and all must contribute and decide for change.
     “From shippers, forwarders or airlines right through to industry associations and authorities, we all have a huge stake in getting security right.
     “The air cargo business needs to exchange experiences on a practical level more intensively so that practical experience is given greater weight in future regulations.
     "The time for greater cooperation is right now as the USA and the EU will only further tighten their requirements ahead.
     “Security has increasingly become a hallmark of quality, especially in growth markets such as Asia, integral to the product portfolio at Lufthansa Cargo and elsewhere.”
Geoffrey