Cargo Working Group
I attended today's Office of Transport Security Cargo Working Group meeting representing Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) and the Australian Peak Shippers Association (APSA).
OTS informed attendees that they met this week with the Transport Security Administration (TSA) in terms of compliance of Australia's security program for air cargo export to the USA. While OTS awaits final sign-off from TSA, the new regime will definitely proceed from 1 July 2017 aligned with Australian legislation, mandating that all air cargo being transported to the USA to either be examined at piece-level or originate from a Known Consignor.
Compliance requirements
Complying with this obligation will require Australian-based exporters, freight forwarders, airlines and cargo terminal operators (CTOs) to adopt new security measures for the preparation of US-bound air cargo.
In summary, cargo must be:
- Originating from a Known Consignor;
- Examined at a piece level by a Regulated air cargo agent (RACA); or
- Examined at a piece level by the CTO upon acceptance of freight and before loading onto an aircraft.
Known Consignor - exporters that use international best-practice security measures to prevent unlawful acts against aviation can apply to join the Known Consignor scheme. A Known Consignor is responsible for securing air cargo that originates from their business until the air cargo is provided to another regulated business.
RACA - businesses that examine and security clear international air cargo must be approved by the OTS as RACAs. Only those RACAs with an Enhanced Air Cargo Examination (EACE) notice can examine and clear international air cargo at "piece-level". Piece-level means that each individual box, carton or other item in a shipment is examined by approved technology before it is loaded onto an aircraft.
AACA - the other important stakeholders are approved transport operators. The Accredited Air Cargo Agent (AACA) is a scheme for businesses that handle, or make arrangements for the transport of air cargo.
Current status
While it appears as though the CTOs are well prepared, only a handful of off-airport businesses have EACE notices – refer HERE (last update 10 February 2017)
Of equal concern is the low number of listed Known Consignors nationally – refer HERE (last update 2 June 2017)
OTS advised that they have received 394 Known Consignor applications, completed 140 validations and have approved 31 Known Consignors. OTS estimate that these 31 Known Consignors collectively comprise 10% of air freight exports to the USA.
The low number of Known Consignors and off-airport RACAs with EACE notices are relatively low meaning that we have left a heavy reliance on our CTOs to complete the security task.
Freight forwarders have clearly done the sums and have decided not to invest in technology, systems, staff training and revised processes to obtain an EACE notice. We understand that third parties have developed commercial solutions which may assist in the cargo screening process and may go some way to alleviate the CTO workload.
- dnata - processes effective 1 July 2017 … read more
- Qantas Freight - processes effective 1 July 2017 ... read more
- Menzies Aviation are in discussions with Delta Airlines and expect to release further details soon in terms of cut off times.
Known Consignor Processing
From an exporters perspective it is now too late to take control of your destiny for the 1 July implementation. OTS advised that becoming a Known Consignor will take time with the length of processing dependant on the quality of the application. It is also a requirement that at least one staff member has Aviation Security Identification Card (ASIC), this alone takes several weeks to process.
It still may be worthwhile starting this process and perhaps also consider benefits associated with the Australian Trusted Trader programme. OTS confirmed that at this point Australian exporters will need to apply separately for both ATT and Known Consignor as there is no single application process. However, where possible, Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) and OTS will share information between the two agencies and will also look to conduct joint validations to minimise the impact to businesses. Details of further support services are available HERE
Paul Zalai – FTA / APSA