TSA pulls forwarders from screening program
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has kicked two freight forwarders out of a voluntary industry security program designed to reduce the expense of screening for cargo on passenger airplanes, a Department of Homeland Security official with deep knowledge of the situation confirmed.
Two other indirect air carriers were temporarily suspended from participating in the Certified Cargo Screening Program while TSA investigates potential compliance violations.
Last August, TSA began full enforcement of a law passed by Congress requiring all cargo on passenger planes to be screened. Airlines have primary responsibility for security checks, which must be done at the piece level either by X-ray, explosive trace detection machines or physical searches. The vast majority of cargo flying on widebody planes and in international trade is bundled in large pallets and air containers. There is no technology certified to screen pallets containing multiple commodities, which means the consolidated loads must be broken down and screened individually.
TSA created the Certified Cargo Screening Program so that shippers, forwarders and independent third parties can get approval to screen cargo themselves in order to minimize damage from extra handling and inspection delays that could result if airlines are left do all the work.
Facilities operated by Japanese forwarder Kintetsu World Express and German forwarder Schenker had their screening certifications revoked, according to a list of locations approved to conduct the screening. TSA distributes the list each week through industry channels and posts to an internal program Web board.
Warehouses operated by Panalpina and Concordia were issued 'suspension orders,' meaning they must stop screening until further notice while TSA investigates possible security breaches.
All the enforcement actions took place in the Dallas-Fort Worth area within the past three weeks. The crackdown comes less than two months after TSA ordered OHL subsidiary Activair to stop screening cargo in Indianapolis after a major violation involving personnel who misrepresented cargo as screened that had not undergone any checks.
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As the CCSP program matures, TSA inspectors are visiting facilities to make sure they are following program requirements. In a couple of the cases in the Dallas area, inspectors used video from closed caption television to observe warehouse workers labeling packages as screened that had not been, the DHS official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the disclosures.
The removals and suspensions do not affect the companies overall because facilities are certified location by location. But facilities that can't screen are potentially at a competitive disadvantage if they can't guarantee the swift processing of their customers' cargo or have to pay higher fees to independent facilities or airlines to do the screening on their behalf.
Indirect air carriers that fail to comply with TSA rules are subject to civil penalties up to $11,000 per violation, including for more minor infractions such as not having files readily available showing that workers received proper security training.
Once facilities have corrected any systemic problems they can reapply to join CCSP.
There are 1,173 certified U.S. screening facilities, including 564 locations operated by freight forwarders, according to the latest CCSP newsletter. ' Eric Kulisch