‘No need for heightened airfreight security’

With the US, Britain and

Australia having warned

of possible terror attacks

against foreign-owned

organisations in SA,

could this affect air cargo

shipments – an attractive

target for terrorists –

and lead to a need for

additional screening and

other heightened security

measures?

While two of the country’s

authorities on air cargo

security refused to write

off the possibility of such

an area of attack, they both

rejected the suggestion of

“heightened security”.

As Doug Smit, MD of

Air Security Solutions, told

FTW: “The UK and the US

both have a very wide range

of intelligence sources. So

we shouldn’t ignore these

warnings. But we should

definitely not panic either.

“Those in the air cargo

industry, however, only

need to purely adhere to

the present security rules

as these are extremely

comprehensive and effective.”

And Garry Marshall,

MD of Bidair Cargo, took a

similar stance, suggesting

that the industry shouldn’t

just write off these

warnings. “If we relax, and

something should happen,

the consequences would be

horrendous,” he added.

However, he told FTW

that air cargo security had

always been a heightened

issue. And that the security

measures devised in the US

and the EU and adopted

here in the SA Civil Aviation

Authority (CAA) rules, had

been fully approved by both

the EU and the US Transport

Security Administration

(TSA).

This essentially means

that SA is acknowledged as

one of the countries where

the level of aviation security

is regarded as “robust and

reliable”.

And, Marshall added,

the Airports Company of

SA (Acsa) – which runs

all the country’s major

commercial airports – also

takes a serious view of

security measures. “Without

making any fuss publicly,

Acsa heightens security at its

airports when there is a threat

– covering everything from

cargo entry and exit, to storage

and aircraft cargo handling.”

CAPTION

Present security rules are comprehensive and effective.