SA already prepared for US security ruling

Monday, December 3 marks the deadline date for the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) requirement for 100% screening of all US-bound cargo shipments loaded on passenger aircraft. They must undergo screening for explosives, fulfilling one of the requirements of the implementing recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act, which also has – in abeyance for now – the mandatory 100% inspection of all sea cargo entering the US. However, SA’s existing screening regime – under Part 108 air cargo security of the Civil Aviation Regulations, implemented on July 1, 2009 – meets with US requirements for 100% screening, according to Deno Moodlayiar, Schenker’s Durban-based airfreight manager and aviation director of the KZN chapter of the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff), It’ll be “business as usual” for US-bound bellyhold cargo from SA on the deadline day, he told FTW. “We must comply with Part 108,” Moodlayiar added, “and already 99% of our air cargo is X-rayed. One thing to note is that, if the cargo comes from a non-regulated agent, the airlines will charge for the screening.” That refers to the Part 108 requirement that air carriers are only allowed to upload “known cargo” – which means a consignment to which the appropriate security controls prescribed by Part 108 have been applied. In essence, an air carrier must receive cargo from a regulated agent who has applied the appropriate security controls and hands the cargo over to the air carrier as known cargo. All of which, Moodlayiar added, means that the SA airfreight industry stands ready to meet the December 3 deadline date.