Security reprieve for airfreight industry

Members of the air cargo industry currently struggling to ensure compliance with the new Part 108 security rules before the original February 1 deadline date have a further five month reprieve. According to Bob Garbett of Professional Risk and Asset Management and chairman of the Business Aviation Association of Southern Africa (Baasa), the commissioner for Civil Aviation announced at the industry liaison forum meeting on January 20 that the minister of transport had extended the implementation date for the air cargo security regulations Part 108 to July 1. “The commissioner also announced that the technical standards, which are the ‘working manual’ of the regulations, were approved by him on January 15.” A further request from the commissioner was that a subcommittee of the industry liaison forum should be formed under the chairmanship of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) – consisting of those bodies that would be affected by the air cargo security regulations. “The sub committee,” said Garbett, “would concentrate its attention on matters of practical implementation of the regulations most affected.” These regulations and their accompanying technical standards have been through a lengthy process of formulation over several years – a process involving a working group of the civil aviation regulations committee (CARcom) consisting of industry role-players. The implications to the air cargo, air carriers and other industry sectors which supply cargo and other items to aircraft are significant, according to Garbett. “From July 1 air carriers may not accept cargo or any other item which has not gone through a security process involving the sender, consignor, forwarding or courier agent, and any other participant in the freight chain.” Cargo that has passed through these measures is classified as “known cargo”. If “unknown cargo” is presented to an air carrier it then becomes the air carrier’s responsibility to apply the necessary security controls to ensure that the cargo complies with the regulations. “This,” said Garbett, “will cause major log-jams if there is not widespread compliance by the industry to make cargo known, with implications that also apply to SA-registered aircraft (both scheduled and charter) picking up cargo in countries outside SA.” He also stressed to FTW that it was vital that the individual components of the freight chain – from the sender to the airline, ramp handling organisations and airports – observed and complied strictly with the regulations and their accompanying technical standards. “The cliché that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link could not apply more directly and more pertinently to air cargo security,” he said.