Air Cargo Screening Moves Ahead; Overnight News

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which is currently screening half of all air cargo transported on passenger airline flights originating in the United States, says a 100 percent screening deadline will be met by August 2010 for domestic cargo through full implementation of its Certified Cargo Screening Program (CCSP).

Most people who use shipping companies assume that their next day or two-day package is rushed to an airport immediately to hop onto the next flight. But in fact only a small percentageof packages actually make it onto an airplane. And an even smaller amount is placed on a passenger carrying aircraft.

Of the hundreds of thousands of tons of cargo shipped from coast to coast every day, only about 50,000 tons become air cargo. Of that amount, only about one quarter is shipped by domestic passenger air carriers.

TSA is responsible for ensuring the security of all modes of transportation, including cargo placed aboard freighters and passenger carrying planes. All suitcases have been screened since 2002, but commercial cargo has been subjected to less scrutiny.

The 9/11 Bill that was signed into law on August 3, 2007 set two deadlines for air cargo security.

TSA says it has put in place the procedures required to meet the congressionally-mandated requirement to screen, by Feb. 3, 2009, 50 percent of all cargo on passenger planes for explosives. Each air carrier is now required to submit data monthly to TSA on the amount of cargo it has screened. TSA then verifies compliance with its inspectors. The federal law also mandates 100 percent cargo screening on passenger aircraft by August 3, 2010.

TSA says one hundred percent of the cargo on 96 percent of the flights originating in the United States is now currently screened. This means that eighty-five percent of the passengers flying each day from U.S. airports are on planes where all of the cargo has been fully screened.

One needed step in achieving 100 percent cargo screening is for all airlines operating narrow body (single-aisle) passenger aircraft from U.S. airports to screen 100 percent of the cargo transported on them. TSA achieved this milestone in October 2008. These aircraft make up more than 95 percent of all U.S. flights on which more than 85 percent of all U.S. passengers travel each day.

Toward this mandate, TSA is certifying facilities as participants in the Certified Cargo Screening Program (CCSP). When fully implemented, the public/private initiative will provide the critical supply-chain-wide ability to expand screening well beyond airline cargo warehouses to several points, including manufacturing facilities, consolidation points, distribution centers and independent cargo screening facilities (ICSF).

ICSFs have the additional benefit of providing a cost effective avenue for small and medium-sized freight forwarders to meet the law's screening requirement. When fully implemented, this distributed screening effort will enable the estimated 12 million pounds of cargo loaded onboard passenger-carrying planes every day to be screened.

CCSP facilities (CCSFs) must successfully apply, participate and adhere to strict security standards, including physical access controls, personnel security, and screening of prospective employees and contractors to TSA standards. A secure chain of custody must also be established from the screening facility to the side of the aircraft.

CCSFs can be shipping facilities, freight forwarding facilities, third party logistics providers, manufacturing facilities, warehouses or distribution centers. CCSFs must: prevent unauthorized entry to facilities where certified cargo is screened, prepared and stored; screen employees and contractors to TSA standards and periodically check current employees having continued access to passenger air cargo; and erect physical barriers that guard cargo handling and storage facilities against unauthorized access.

This is where companies like ADT Federal Systems comes in, says Frank Pervola, the firm’s business development manager. Less than a year ago, ADT Federal Systems teamed with URS Corp. and Andy Frain Services to offer a certified cargo screening solution (CCSS) and bid for TSA cargo screening pilot programs.

As the prime contractor, URS provides a range of planning, engineering, architectural design, construction and management services. ADT, best know for its line of home alarms systems, also provides security equipment installation and maintenance at banks, retail firms, federal courthouses and two-thirds of the nation’s busiest airports. On the other hand Andy Frain Services, located in Aurora, IL provides security services and facility operations, supplying screening personnel at airports and marine terminals since 1968.

Together, the three firms provide “a completes solution package for CSSFs,” said Pervola, including construction, design and engineering services, access controls and facility security, training and screening personnel.

Pervola says the cargo screening team offers three project models from which customers can choose from. The first, a Managed Off-Airport Facility, would be a complete turn-key operation in which all services would be outsourced. The CCSF would be at a customer’s off-airport operation or production location.

The so-called Solution Provisioning Model would allow customers to pick and choose the required services. “An a la carte menu of services offers individual elements of the CCSF solution on an as needed basis,” explained Pervola.

On the other hand, a Managed Landslide/Airside Facility would be “a completely outsourced on-airport or near airport ‘car wash’ solution with multiple screening lanes and technologies applying the best solution to each cargo type/configuration within a secure environment,” Pervola said.

The CCSS team responded to the TSA’s Phase 2 Broad Agency Announcement to conduct a CCSP screening technology pilot. It received letters of intent from three CCSFs to participate in the pilot. The team submitted seven complete pilot proposals to the TSA, after which TSA awarded six out of the seven pilot proposals to the CCSS team. However, one of the CCSFs backed out of the pilot program, leaving the CCSS team with five pilot locations at four airports. Pervola would identify neither the five CCSF pilot locations nor the four airports. He did say that pilot certification is scheduled to be completed in August 2009.

Until the CCSP is fully implemented, TSA will continue to utilize a multi-layered approach to air cargo security, including allowing only known and established shippers to offer cargo to passenger airlines for shipment, randomly screening a significant percentage of all cargo, deploying explosive detection canine teams at high volume cargo airports and conducting covert tests and no-notice inspections of cargo operations.

Brandon Fried, executive director of the Airforwarders Association, a trade group of cargo transport companies, said advanced screening technology is needed to inspect large cargo pallets intact. Today they must be unpacked “posing serious logistical and theft concerns.” Each pallet contains 200 pieces of varying sizes, shape and commodity. Breaking up such a shipment requires a facility large enough to handle multiple unpacked pallets, a resource not all airports have.

James May, president and CEO of the Air Transport Association, said “achieving the 100 percent level will be difficult…The biggest challenge in meeting the August 2010 deadline is the lack of TSA-certified screening technology to inspect large air cargo pallets. Most pieces of cargo transported on wide-body aircraft are consolidated into large shipments and 75 percent of cargo is transported on wide-body aircraft. That fact gives you an idea of the magnitude of the challenge that we face.”

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