While authorities in Germany last week arrested three men who were said to be planning bomb attacks at Frankfurt Airport, and Ramstein Airbase, the U.S. Air Forces European headquarters, police say they’re still searching for 10 other suspects.
     Even though U.S. and European authorities have made significant changes and improvements to cargo security in recent years to hinder such threats to the cargo network, some experts think security measures must still be undertaken to ensure all cargo transport is safer.
     In terms of air cargo safety, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration on its website says, among other improvements, it’s added more than 150 inspectors, both domestically and abroad, deployed 170 more dogs, and started screening at more than 200 smaller airports since mid 2006.
     “In the next fiscal year, we plan to invest $56 million to fund 300 cargo inspectors, K9 teams and technology which will allow us to track carriers, shippers and support risk-based air cargo screening across the entire supply chain,” Michael Chertoff the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security told the U.S. Congress last week.
     Even so, some say cargo security is still limited in certain ways on both sides of the Atlantic.
     Improvements could be made, says Robert Gianfranceschi, a spokesman with the United States Mission to the European Union in Brussels.
     The mission is a trans-Atlantic liaison that works to further common U.S.-E.U. interests.
     Gianfranceschi says representatives from the Mission and the E.U. have very regular meetings and discussions on how to implement T.S.A. cargo objectives.
     He said Congress’ passing of the “9-11 Bill” in August that calls for further improvements to the cargo network’s security, should also help improve the situation—in Europe as well—because it provides provisions for screening cargo to and from the U.S.
     “I think everyone’s in agreement, there’s a lot more that needs to be done,” Gianfranceschi said, but he couldn’t outline what the current U.S.–European goals are exactly, or a timeframe.
     That comes at a time when in the U.S., the entire system is still paradoxical in a way, as the freight sometimes only clears customs at its final destination.

     Gregg Pasco, the president of Quality Packaging, a specialized coffee packaging machinery and engineering company near Philadelphia is somewhat dumbfounded by the whole U.S. security arrangement:
     “How is it that when I import a machine from Europe, destined for California, that the container is offloaded from a ship in New York, travels by rail across the entire country, and then finally clears customs in Los Angeles? That’s crazy to me!” Pasco said in disbelief.
     He also notes he’s basing his conclusions on what his forwarders tell him.
     Pasco said to ensure better safety, he thinks cargo should certainly clear customs at point of entry and not after his container, like millions of others, traverses the entire continent.
     He imports up to a dozen large pieces of machinery a year—both by air and sea—that can wind up with customers anywhere in North America.
     Juergen Kempf, a spokesman for the Transported Asset Protection Association in Munich says in a way, the recent German arrests put a spotlight on the security issues and have turned up the heat on European lawmakers in Brussels to continue focusing on cargo security.
     TAPA establishes freight security minimum standard requirements, and tries to persuade airlines, airports and logistics companies to apply the standards and methods.
     The association has 210 member companies and a newly formed lobbying presence in Brussels as well, that should foster more security in future.
     He says he thinks a big emphasis should be on the cargo handling side, because since the 9/11 attacks, airports and airlines have already done a lot to step up security at their bases.
     “In a way, airlines are taking a risk with their own property and investment, so I think they’ve started considering security a lot more since September 11.”
     Kempf said he thought Air France’s cargo hub in Paris especially, had made significant improvements and that Lufthansa’s cargo hub at Frankfurt was also solid from a security standpoint. While Heathrow, which had gained the distinguished reputation as “Thiefrow” in the past, and Schiphol had theft issues, the problems were being worked on and corrected.
     That however still illustrates that there are some gaps in the system.
     Kempf said the E.U. has recently released statistics indicating €8.2 billion in freight is stolen yearly in Europe, but that the majority of it is from road transit.
     TAPA’s members include many high-value products companies like electronics and computer firms Apple, Cisco and Sony and carriers, freight and airport companies like DHL, Lufthansa Cargo, Air France Cargo, Emirates Airlines and Fraport.
     Next week (September 19) in Frankfurt, Lufthansa Cargo and its energetic head of cargo security Harald Zielinski are holding a by invitation only, one day air cargo seminar and presentation at a local hotel here.
     Mr. Zielinski who at one time was a foot cop in Frankfurt has been a vocal critic of many of the security procedures currently in place and also of TSA mandates that do not take into consideration reality of the varied drivers in the global air cargo business.
     But more security is top of Mr. Zielinski’s list of “must to do” and he is not shy while talking about it.
     “The secret to great cargo security is whatever you do, keep it simple. Trust, but verify.
     “I wish somebody would invent a giant sniffer for all air cargo,” Harald told FlyingTypers recently.
George/Geoffrey