News
- Air Cargo Volumes Impact on Forwarders
- 3/10/2010
Increasing air cargo volumes impact on forwarder screening
American Shipper's online newsletter has reported that freight forwarders participating in a voluntary programme to screen air cargo on passenger planes are checking a smaller percentage of shipments because they are unable to keep up with rising air cargo volumes as the economy improves.
________________________________________Citing a US transportation Security Administration official, the American Shipper report says that a number of certified forwarders, mostly larger logistics companies, helped airlines meet a statutory requirement one year ago to screen half of all cargo transported on passenger planes. But TSA and industry officials worry that many shippers and forwarders could experience significant airport delays when the screening requirement for cargo reaches 100 percent on August 1st unless they sign up to self-screen their own shipments.
According to the report, forwarders in the Certified Cargo Screening Programme that previously were inspecting more shipments than required say that they can’t keep pace with the increased volumes and that the percentage of individual pieces in multipack shipments being screened by physical or technological means is dropping off.
A 35 percent to 40 percent slide in air cargo traffic helped create the illusion that the 50-percent mandate was easy to achieve, but the early reaction from forwarders experiencing a nascent rebound in business is a harbinger of potential cargo gridlock if shippers let airlines take full responsibility for screening their goods, American Shipper reported.
The TSA created the Certified Cargo Screening Programme as a way for shippers with time-sensitive, bulk, fragile or perishable goods to maintain shipment integrity and delivery schedules. Under the programme, shippers with certified facilities can pack shipments in secure areas and affix labels, security tape and documentation to alert airline personnel that the shipment doesn't need to be rescreened. Forwarders can follow the same process, but first have to disassemble any pallets to screen each individual piece.