U.S. Transportation Safety Administration Administrator John Pistole travels the world over extolling the programs TSA has installed and continues to create to insure passenger and cargo safety in all modes and disciplines of transportation.
     “Focusing on risk management is the most efficient way to use TSA’s limited resources and enhances the value we provide to the American people,” he told lawmakers in Washington in testimony earlier this year.
     “I recently created the position of Chief Risk Officer to assess and standardize our approach to risk management across our mission operations and business support operations.
     “This effort allows TSA to better assess new policies with respect to risk and value creation.
     “TSA also recently extended invitations to twenty-four industry group and association members to be part of TSA’s Aviation Security Advisory Committee (ASAC), which provides recommendations for improving aviation security methods, equipment, and procedures.
     “The ASAC enhances TSA’s security posture through consultation with key partners concerning potential risks to infrastructure, passengers, and cargo as well as gathering input from stakeholders on the effectiveness of TSA’s current security procedures.
     “Members then develop and share recommendations for possible improvements to make TSA’s policies more effective,” Mr. Pistole said.
     In addition to his lunchtime speech on October 8th at TIACA ACF in Seoul, this is what John Pistole told a Chicago Tribune Editorial Board about TSA activities and outlook just last month:
     “The FBI's Terrorist Screening Center has to have a certain threshold of information to put somebody on or take somebody off the no-fly list.
     “We're just the facilitator of that.
     “Other agencies—the CIA, NSA (National Security Agency)—they're the ones who nominate people depending on the information they have.
     “The no-fly list works for the known universe of people, but my concern is as much on the unknowns—about people who just haven't come up on anybody's radar.
     “That's part of the challenge.”
     “We have almost 900 bomb-sniffing dogs in the TSA, both in passenger and cargo—many of these dogs are Belgian Malinois.
     “Every day, the TSA confiscates five or six guns.
     “There were 1,813 firearms confiscated at U.S. airports around the country in 2013—1,477 of which were loaded.
     “About 25 percent of people who bring weapons into checkpoints over the course of the year are actually arrested.
     “Whether someone is arrested is up to the local authorities.
     “In the future the majority of screening lanes throughout the country (about 2,200) will be TSA pre-checked lanes. That will become the new norm.
     “The standard lanes will be the exception.
     “More and more people will either sign up for TSA PreCheck directly, or there will be private companies that sign people up under a contract with us.
     “We just had the 13th anniversary of 9/11. The further we get away (from that day of terror), the greater the risk of complacency becomes.
     “Regardless of the public's perspective, we have to make sure we don't become complacent,” John Pistole said.
Geoffrey

Managers at Incheon’s airport authority are offering a hearty Korean welcome as the host of the 27th ACF.
     Asked what they hoped to achieve, airport managers told FlyingTypers:
     “We hope to strengthen [Incheon’s] position as a leading air cargo hub in Northeast Asia.” Expectations are, indeed, high!
     “Incheon Airport, in collaboration with TIACA, encouraged participation from members of the Korea International Freight Forwarders Association and Korea Integrated Logistics Association through sponsorships, face-to-face promotion, and circulation of promotional material.”
     Airport managers have also organized a technical tour on October 10th consisting of two courses: Incheon International Airport/Incheon Port and Hyundai Motor Company.
     Whether the tour also includes a look at the airport’s huge new expansion plans was not made clear by the airport.
     On the boards are a second passenger terminal and an expansion of the Cargo Terminal Area to boost capacity by 1.3 million tons per annum to 5.8 million tons per annum.
     “In addition to the expansion of sheer size, introduction of state-of-the-art handling equipment will enable faster and more secure cargo handling,” said the airport.
     “We are currently discussing rearrangement of our terminals and exploring the possibility of future expansion to the firms that are operating the terminals in order to maximize efficiency of the six cargo terminals in operation.
     “The timing of expansion of cargo handling capacity will be determined according to the relevant growth rate of cargo volume at Incheon Airport.”

     Of course, Incheon is a leading world freight airport—even been before it adds further capacity.
From January to July, air cargo volume on international routes through the airport stood at 1.46 million tons, a 4.3 percent increase year-on-year.
     A number of factors contributed to the steady increase, including a stronger Korean won compared to the U.S. dollar, import cargo gains due to the stabilization of crude oil prices, and an increase in export of IT products such as mobile devices.
     “Exports during the 1st half of 2014 were led by products such as semiconductors, mobile phones, auto parts, and steel products,” reports the airport.
     “Auto parts in particular are contributing to an increase in exports through quality excellence and diversification of customers.
     “It is notable that exports to countries with competent automobile manufacturers such as Germany and Japan are also on the rise.
     “We expect that export growth will continue due to the additional reduction of tariffs under the Korea-EU FTA, and the release of new car models.”
     Looking ahead, Incheon expects further expansion aided by improved traffic with Europe and the Americas and a more general improvement in the global economy.
     “In particular, auto parts, which led growth in the 1st half of 2014, are expected to continue their strong growth due to additional tariff reduction under Korea-EU FTA, and the release of new car models,” the airport reports.
     “Traditional peak seasons like those in the past are hard to come by, yet as evidenced through the Thanksgiving national holiday in early September, we are seeing an increase of spending by Korean customers.
     “Therefore, we are expecting a slight increase of cargo volume near the year’s end.”
Sky King

Delta Cargo Delivers At ACF

“The Delta team, along with our SkyTeam Cargo colleagues, is well represented at the ACF in Seoul,” reports Ray Curtis, Vice President-Cargo Commercial, Delta Cargo.
     “The host committee has been fantastic with creating a venue and an atmosphere conducive to discussion of the key issues facing our industry.
     “The workshops have been well attended and facilitated—they have generated some great open dialogue on how we, as an industry can work together to collaborate on solutions for pressing industry issues.
     “Delta sponsored the workshop, "Forward Notice on Advance Data."
     “That session included players from the entire supply chain—regulators, forwarders, airports and airlines. The workshop pointed to ACAS as a great example of what we can accomplish by working together with regulators to have an effective program that is operationally feasible to put into action,” Mr. Curtis said.
     TIACA plays a critical role in bringing together key stakeholders from the industry.
     “The theme of this year’s conference, Breaking Barriers, Creating Opportunities was right on target.
     “It is through collaboration and partnership that we will be successful in driving forward those aspects that are key in advancing the industry,” Ray concluded.

Nabil Handicaps ACF

   

   Nabil Sultan, DSVP, Emirates SkyCargo says, "There is good representation of industry players as well as airport authorities, mainly from Asia Pacific, Europe and the U.S..
     “It is going well so far and based on the conference discussions the industry is optimistic of better times ahead.
     “For us as Emirates SkyCargo the main focus is maintaining existing relationships and gaining new customers, and highlighting that we have the capacity, capability and extensive global route network."

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