WFS facility certified to screen air cargo
Worldwide Flight Services, which handles cargo and provides services at airports around the world, said the Transportation Security Administration has certified its cargo warehouse at Pittsburgh International Airport as an approved independent cargo screening facility.
The company previously had its cargo facility in Miami certified to screen air cargo.
The TSA last year established the Certified Cargo Screening Program to divert cargo screening upstream to private-sector users of air cargo transport to meet an August 2010 deadline for all cargo on passenger aircraft to be screened. The program is intended to ease the burden on airlines of deconsolidating shipments to screen every piece and creating long backlogs.
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A handful of shippers have been approved to self-screen shipments as they are packed and several hundred freight forwarders have been certified to screen their customers' cargo and tender it to the airlines without additional checks. About three-dozen independent cargo screening facilities have also been certified to screen shipments for shippers who do not want to invest in the technology or training to do the screening themselves.
WFS provides cargo handling for nine airlines and the U.S. Postal Service in Pittsburgh.
The company said the 50 percent screening mandate in place now has created modest demand for third-party screening, but added that business is expected to grow as the 2010 deadline approaches.
WFS said it also plans to create more independent cargo screening facilities in other cities. It is working to obtain approval for its cargo locations in Philadelphia and Dallas-Fort Worth.
To read more about the TSA's Certified Cargo Screening Program, see 'TSA claims smooth takeoff,' May American Shipper, page 28. ' Eric Kulisch