FedEx, UPS bomb finds raise concerns about screening costs

THE discovery of two bombs lodged in computer printer toner cartridges on UPS and FedEx flights in the United Kingdom and Dubai has raised new concerns about the air freight security and its additional cost, reported AOL Daily Finance.

This has also exposed the threat of less scrutiny for air cargo and Industry observers said they have pointed put this problem for some time already. "With cargo we have quite a porous border; we're quite dependent upon globalisation of products from around the world," said Scott Johns, professor at the University of Denver's Strum College of Law, who was an airline pilot and special assistant for the US Department of Homeland Security.

"If there's any place we want the 100 per cent [security] all the time, it's in the aviation industry. And the fact that things are getting through raises questions," he said.

The latest terror alert creates significant additional security costs. "Every layer of security creates additional financial burdens," said Prof Johns. "What price do we want to pay? And people have decided there's a level or risk that's acceptable. Do we need to adjust? Are we using the wrong criteria to inspect the wrong cargo at the wrong times?"

Those are the questions the industry and government should be working to answer in the near future.

Indeed, the industry has been attempting to find ways to maintain cost-effective air cargo safety. British Airways World Cargo and DHL Global Forwarding have agreed to share information and standardise procedures for high-value and high-risk cargo, said the AOL report.

Source: SchedNet