Vol. 8 No. 18                                            WE COVER THE WORLD                                                Wednesday February 11, 2009

TSA Rules Need
Understanding Stimulus

     This is what happens when government in its zeal and ineptitude, driven by politicians vying for TV cameras at any price and doing what they perceive will get them re-elected, pass the “Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007” mandating screening of all air cargo on passenger aircraft. They collectively mess around with a transportation mechanism that has taken the industry 60 years to slowly fine tune, which they don’t understand!
     They can call meetings and involve the shipping community, but the result, while maybe well-intended, is a Swiss Emmentaler cheese of loopholes and opportunistic lawyers’ bonanza, of which at this point just over one week into 50% screening of all belly cargo in USA, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg.
     The Certified Cargo Screening Program - CCSP – we love our acronyms, invited integral members of the trade community to join this program in order to alleviate bottlenecks at the airport because the airlines and their ground handlers do not have the space and manpower to handle the screening for the entire trade onsite.
     With this program TSA aims to ensure that each member in the trade chain has proper training for the screening of the cargo to the box level, corresponding to passenger baggage currently screened by TSA.
     Simple and straightforward, right?
     The CCSP authorizes facilities to become certified cargo screening facilities (CCSF) once they have been vetted, validated, and TSA-certified to screen air cargo.
     The CCSP also requires that a CCSF apply stringent chain of custody methods to safeguard previously screened cargo as it travels through the air cargo supply chain prior to being loaded onto and transported on a passenger aircraft.
     As we all know, these measures imply additional handling and thus additional costs.
     While the ‘piece level’ screening appears to illustrate the determination behind the program, the reality of breaking down a skid to screen each carton or box individually, re-label and reassemble onto a skid does slow down the whole process significantly, no matter which method is employed—be it explosive sniffing dogs, technology (ETD – explosive trace device) or other alternatives.
     So now to the money side of things; one example, DHL Global Forwarding, as published on their website will “add a CCSP security surcharge (CSF) on every shipment tendered to DHL Global Forwarding.
     “A fee of US$2.00 per piece with a minimum of $10.00 per shipment will be implemented on February 2, 2009.”
     On the other hand, because of current business pressures, as reported in Air Cargo News FlyingTypers, on February 6, 2009, Lufthansa Cargo discontinued its security screening fee, as suspected for competitive reasons.
     The optimist can argue that these are market forces at play and it shall sort itself out in due course.
     The pessimist, on the other hand, can equally claim this will end up being bad for business as it will add another level of confusion to shipping.
     In the heady rush to dictate and spur the industry into action, deadlines were set which the various players had to meet. Airlines, ground handlers, freight forwarders and third parties invested large sums of money they didn’t have, to buy whatever equipment the vendors showcased and touted as the most effective alternative.
     Why couldn’t the TSA with its vast resources have conducted its own testing under much more favorable terms and proffered a list of “approved devices and/or methods” in the first place in parallel with the program?
     And I seem to recall the industry has a standard setting trade association in IATA that could have pooled resources together with the ATA to use its institutional knowledge and expertise in the service of the members.
     So now apparently lawyers eager to conjure up fees in flagging economic times in the guise of being protective of their freight forwarder clients are pushing consent forms to be signed by shippers which ostensibly authorize the freight forwarder or the CCSF to perform the screening.
     Well, I said it before and I’ll say it again, I am not a lawyer, but when the mandate to screen is passed by Congress, why would additional permission and forms be necessary?
     We are only a few days into the program and more is yet to come as time goes by. Why can’t the TSA employ or contract a few retired cargo managers with 30-40 years of airfreight experience under their belt to help shape a regime which while fulfilling its mandate will actually add value rather than just cost?
     Let me know your suggestions and we’ll take it from there!
Ted Braun

A Conversation With Air Cargo Jo

     "EMO Trans has taken the necessary steps to adhere to every government regulation while protecting their customers’ interests for smooth and expeditious handling of all cargo."
     While others may be throwing their hands in the air professing bewilderment and exasperation as economic downturn timeline moves from earlier predictions of a few months to possibly a few years,      Joachim “Jo” Frigger, CEO of EMO Trans based near JFK International Airport in New York says that he is “cautiously optimistic.”
     “EMO Trans began providing professional air freight services in Germany in 1965 and has been around long enough at this point to have experienced every manner of bust and boom in air cargo.
     "We know that in order to be successful you must offer total capabilities to include virtually every facet of worldwide shipping.
     "Despite the current global challenges we remain confident in our abilities to weather any situation based on our ongoing commitment to providing door-to-door solutions for each individual customer.
     "In a business where creativity is often the key to problem solving, there is no substitute for human ingenuity.”
     There is plenty to recommend about Jo Frigger.
     Aside from putting the emotion in EMO Trans, Mr. Frigger is actively outspoken and remarkably consistent about what he says talking air cargo.
     Several months ago he told us that the TSA Mandates just applied, “will inevitably lead to rising costs and somebody will have to pay for pushing the goods through an x-ray machine. “Medium sized and also smaller players will have to come up with smart and cost-efficient solutions.
     “Generally speaking I can say that air freight will become more expensive due to the screening requirements.
     “Ultimately the cargo will have to pay for the costs, not unlike passengers for their tickets.
     “We would prefer that the TSA performs the screening, like they do with luggage and passengers.
     “This whole procedure disadvantages the medium and small forwarders.
     “Even if forwarders do the screening, the liability issue is unresolved should a catastrophic incident occur.
     “In a broader sense the best way to insure workable global air cargo security is for everyone to utilize best practices and maybe even more importantly for the dialogue to ramp up between nations for a major exchange of ideas as all of us work to get security right.
     “Everyone’s future depends on getting cargo security right.”
     Our conversation continues here with Jo Frigger live and in living color in a video created just as 2009 was about to begin covering a wide range of topics.
     The central theme that runs though all of this, is Air Cargo Jo, speaking straight from the shoulder, right from the heart.
     In these days when often the message is confused, straight talk like a breath of fresh air is welcome and in many ways unique.
Geoffrey