The SA airfreight industry has been officially granted “green” status under the European Union (EU) ACC3 air cargo security regime which became effective on July 1. This was announced at an SA Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) meeting last week, where the authority also noted that SA air cargo agents were no longer required to implement the expensive validation process to have free movement of cargo to Europe. “For the industry to take full advantage of this status,” David Alexander, GM of compliance services at Professional Cargo Security, told FTW, “it needs to fully comply with SA’s Part 108 security rulings. And the members should all be known consignors or regulated agents.” This, he added, would prevent the delays to air cargo that occur when shipments originate with non-compliant sources, and need to be X-rayed and cleared by a third party body before the carriers will accept them. “And just remember,” said Alexander, “the more who participate in these security regimes, the more secure the supply chain becomes.”
