We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
  • ::COVID-19 COVERAGE::
  • INDUSTRY PRESS ROOM
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • MEDIA FILE
  • Create Account
  • Sign In
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Free Newsletters
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC.
    • Podcast
    • Blogs
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Best Practices
      • Dispatches
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Logistics Problem Solving
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Public Sector Logistics
      • Two Sides of the Logistics Coin
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • MODEX 2020
    • Upload Your Video
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC.
    • Podcast
    • Blogs
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Best Practices
      • Dispatches
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Logistics Problem Solving
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Public Sector Logistics
      • Two Sides of the Logistics Coin
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • MODEX 2020
    • Upload Your Video
Home » U.S., EU ink deal to align aircargo security regimes
newsworthy

U.S., EU ink deal to align aircargo security regimes

June 4, 2012
Mark B. Solomon
No Comments

The United States and the European Union (EU) said Friday that, effective immediately, they would recognize each other's aircargo security programs. The joint compact means that businesses operating in the U.S.-EU market, over which more than 2 million tons of cargo fly each year, will only have to comply with one set of security rules rather than two.

The agreement, which covers the 27 EU member states and Switzerland, represents the first time the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which oversees aviation security in the United States, has recognized a union of nation-states as having what the agency calls "equivalent aircargo security." About 20 percent of all export air cargo from the EU is bound for the United States, according to 2010 data.

"We hope that this agreement is the cornerstone for further alignment, especially for passenger security," said Tony Tyler, director-general and CEO of the International Air Transport Association, a Geneva-based group that represents 240 of the world's airlines, in a statement. "This partnership model should serve as a template for other national regulators moving toward risk-based security regimes."

The agreement also comes just one day after the United States and Canada agreed that transborder belly cargo shipped on passenger planes would only have to be screened at the point of origin and not at any other stop on its journey.

LOOMING DEADLINE
The U.S.-EU pact, which took seven years to hammer out, is likely to make it easier for airlines and freight forwarders to meet a TSA-imposed Dec. 3 deadline for screening 100 percent of international cargo moving in the lower-decks of passenger planes and bound for the United States. The TSA made the announcement on May 16.

A 2007 law had initially set an Aug. 1, 2010, deadline to screen all international cargo entering the United States in the bellies of passenger planes. TSA officials told Congress in July 2010 that it would take about three years to reach that goal.

A key obstacle was the reluctance of foreign governments that have their own individual security programs to share information with trading partners because of the data's sensitive nature. TSA, in turn, has said it could not recognize a foreign government's security program unless it has enough access to data to draw a comparison.

The lack of information-sharing would mean, for example, that air shipments from Germany to the United States would be screened first to meet German security requirements and then a second time to meet U.S. standards. However, the compact announced Friday, in which TSA confirmed that the United States, EU, and Swiss security regimes are all on an equal footing, effectively dismantles the information firewall and takes the double-screening scenario off the table.

AN ADDITIONAL EXPENSE
Brandon Fried, president of the Airforwarders Association, which represents U.S.-based freight forwarders and which has been deeply involved in the security saga, said the move to a single security standard "should take some of the burden away from the airlines and place it into the hands of regulated entities who may be able to perform screening off airport before tendering to the carrier."

At the same time, Fried cautioned that the agreements with the EU, Switzerland, and Canada "comprised the low-hanging fruit, and that significant challenges lie ahead in bringing others to the table."

Art Arway, who ran security in the Americas for Deutsche Post DHL, owner of the world's largest air forwarder, said the reciprocity agreements could pave the way for better information-sharing and a more efficient screening process. However, the supply chain will bear a cost for complying with the TSA's mandate of 100 percent screening of inbound belly cargo by Dec. 3.

"Companies that move large quantities of goods via air will feel the effect for sure," Arway said in an e-mail. "The decision will be ... do they perform their own screening or push it all out to the airlines? Some countries might not allow non-airline screening, so it could burden the movement of air cargo."

Arway, who heads his own supply chain security firm, said all-cargo airlines, which are exempted from the TSA's inbound screening requirements, may see additional business as shippers and forwarders look to avoid the additional screening expense. He added that a few companies may take a closer look at diverting air freight to ocean shipping, which is a slower yet less expensive form of transport.

However, the goods that today move by air often cannot be shipped via a slower transport mode because their high value requires that they quickly reach their destination to avoid inventory obsolescence costs.

Transportation Air
KEYWORDS DHL
  • Related Articles

    CN and CSX ink deal for intermodal service between eastern cities in Canada and U.S.

    eyes on the skies: coalition gears up to fight aircargo security initiative

    UP, NS ink deal on chemical traffic

Marksolomon
Mark Solomon joined DC VELOCITY as senior editor in August 2008, and was promoted to his current position on January 1, 2015. He has spent more than 30 years in the transportation, logistics and supply chain management fields as a journalist and public relations professional. From 1989 to 1994, he worked in Washington as a reporter for the Journal of Commerce, covering the aviation and trucking industries, the Department of Transportation, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that, he worked for Traffic World for seven years in a similar role. From 1994 to 2008, Mr. Solomon ran Media-Based Solutions, a public relations firm based in Atlanta. He graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in journalism from The American University in Washington, D.C.

Recent Articles by Mark Solomon

Coming together for road safety: interview with Joshua Girard

Off the rails

Freight rate spikes shaking up the C-suite

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

Most Popular Articles

  • IBM survey says digitalization trends will sweep trucking industry by 2030

  • Gartner survey signals increased investment in resilience over the next two years

  • What Level of Automation is Right for Your Warehouse?

  • Growing up … and up and up: interview with Sam Bertram

  • Old Dominion adds nine freight service centers to handle business growth

Now Playing on DCV-TV

D92f0dd1 a98c 434a 9e17 30b63ee72c90

Automated Pack-out and Print-Apply System for thredUP

DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
SilMan Industries designed and implemented a mixed polybag-carton system, including automated print and apply, in a new regional Fulfillment Center for thredUP, one of the world’s largest online resale platforms for women’s and kids’ apparel, shoes, and accessories. The Situation Secondhand clothing and online...

FEATURED WHITE PAPERS

  • Time to rethink your lift truck power

  • Warehouse Management System Project Toolkit

  • Solving Talent Management Challenges Now and In the Future

  • Shaping Up Last Mile Delivery to Surpass Customer Expectations

View More

Subscribe to DC Velocity Magazine

GET YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • NEWSLETTERS
  • ADVERTISING
  • CUSTOMER CARE
  • CONTACT
  • ABOUT
  • STAFF
  • PRIVACY POLICY

Copyright ©2021. All Rights ReservedDesign, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing