The Hindu Business Line : US security rules will drive up shippers' costs

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of the US Department of Homeland Security has issued new regulatory changes designed to step up security over the 50,000 tonnes of cargo transported aboard passenger and all-cargo aircraft each day. The objective is to fight terrorism.

Mr Vijay Kondath, President, Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI), said that TSA's regulatory changes would have an impact on freight forwarders in India.

Increased costs

The security clearances for their employees, security training, and X-ray screening would not only enhance security for air cargo flown to US destinations but also increase costs for freight forwarders, he said.

Freight forwarders have pointed out that the constant raising of the security bar by TSA will prove a costly affair for them. They said it would cost Rs 4-5 lakh to implement these requirements, which include 24-hour surveillance in the warehouse, higher walls and sniffer dogs to detect explosives.

Mr Y.D. Mathur, Executive Vice President, Continental Carriers Ltd, said that when it comes to security, financial burden was not really relevant — there was no compromise on this. He said that the TSA regulations would, no doubt, involve an initial "one-time" heavy capital expenditure with concurrently running cost on freight forwarders, but this was necessary to be able to do business with the US and, later, other countries too.

Mr Kondath said that as the volume of air cargo to the US from India was sizeable, there was really no choice but to comply.

The security requirements are the first substantial changes to air cargo regulations since 1999.

According to the TSA Web site, the Air Cargo Final Rule makes permanent some practices already in place and adds others. New security measures include consolidating approximately 4,000 private industry known shipper lists into one central database managed by TSA. This will give TSA more visibility into the activities of companies shipping on passenger aircraft and permit more in-depth vetting of known shippers.

Background checks

The other requirements are background checks of approximately 51,000 off-airport freight forwarder employees, extending secure areas of airports to include ramps and cargo facilities. This will require full criminal history background checks on an additional 50,000 cargo aircraft operator employees.

An expanded force of air cargo inspectors will enforce these new measures. In the coming weeks, TSA will complete the recruitment of 300 air cargo inspectors.

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US security rules will drive up shippers' costs