Air cargo security: Shippers cite expense of new TSA initiatives

Shippers are mindful that this is an election year, and are asking lawmakers  not to seize on cargo security to gain political advantage. They are also saying the cost of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) compliance may break the bank. “We estimate that outlays will require between $150,000 to $500,000 or more per facility,” said National Customs Broker and Forwarders Association of America, Inc. (NCBFAA), Task Force on Security Chair, Cindy Allen. “It is unrealistic to assume that a typical indirect air carriers (IACs) can afford this equipment for use in his own company, just as we understand it may be difficult for some of the larger participating companies to do so.” In the House Committee on Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection, Allen said that the Certified Cargo Screening Program (CCSP) is “a sensible way to manage security for the huge volumes of air cargo that inundate airports every day.” By relying on Indirect IACs, CCSP users regulated entities whose personnel and facilities are thoroughly vetted by TSA and that must meet chain-of-custody standards in delivering screened merchandise to the air carrier. She noted, however, that questions of cost and competitive disadvantage remain unanswered.

TSA’s policy of providing capital funding for the CCSP pilot participants by subsidizing and underwriting a major portion of those mostly large and established companies’ overhead, leaves other non-pilot firms at a competitive financial disadvantage, she told congressmen. “There appears to be no funding within TSA for like treatment for the small and medium sized businesses that will follow these large corporations into the program,” she said. Security infrastructure expert, Dr. Sotiris Pagdadis, managing director of the  law firm McKenna Long and Aldridge, told Logistics Management in an interview that change will be expensive in any case. “Public/private funding for security initiatives is inevitable, no matter which political party is in control next year,” he said. “It is understandable that shippers would not want to bear too much of the expense burden, but these kinds of laws and regulations are long overdue.” According to Pagdadis, the shipping community has “let its guard down” since 9/11. “We are really taking too much for granted today,” he said. “The solution may seem expensive, but a terrorist act could be too costly to even contemplate.”