Airlines, shippers prepare for cargo screening

By Kelly Yamanouchi

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

As the government prepares to enforce a new requirement for screening of all air cargo on passenger airliners, officials warn there could be delays and higher shipping costs.

The Transportation Security Administration has been gradually stepping up requirements for air cargo security screening. Starting Aug. 1, all cargo on passenger flights must be screened under the 9/11 Act of 2007. Many airline flights carry some cargo in addition to passengers’ luggage.

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is the nation’s seventh largest gateway for air cargo, TSA said. Air cargo generates about $4 billion in direct business revenue in metro Atlanta, according to a recent airport economic impact study.

A Government Accountability Office report issued last month said “it is questionable . . .whether 100 percent of such cargo will be screened by August 2010 without impeding the flow of commerce.”

But, “TSA fully intends that industry will meet that mandate,” said Douglas Brittin, the TSA’s general manager for air cargo.

Freight forwarders, which essentially book cargo on airlines, conduct much of the screening. Some manufacturers and other businesses, as well as carriers such as Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, can also screen shipments.

But airlines will likely need extra time to complete the screening, so goods could miss flights and be delayed.

“In some airports, at some carriers on some days, there could be delays” of cargo shipments, Brittin said. “We haven’t heard of any carriers saying they will delay a flight for cargo.”

Brittin also said the screening, which is paid for by industry, could increase the cost of goods shipped by air.

Thomas Puglisi, vice president of airfreight operations for freight forwarder Kuehne + Nagel, said his company tried to prepare customers who ship cargo by air. Kuehne + Nagel, one of about 40 certified cargo security facilities approved by the TSA in the Atlanta area, has explosives trace detection machines and a giant X-ray machine at its distribution center near Hartsfield-Jackson..

Brittin said TSA will also increase screening requirements for international air cargo bound for the United States within the next couple of years.