New security rules will apply to cargo flying with passengers
New security rules will apply to cargo flying with passengers
TEXT OF STORY
Steve Chiotakis: New rules for air cargo start next week. All shipments that fly along with passengers on commercial planes must be screened for security. The shipping industry has had a few years to work up to the new rules, but there have been setbacks, as Marketplace’s Eve Troeh reports.
Eve Troeh: Most travellers have no idea the belly of their plane is filled with much more than luggage.
Peter Quinter: Virtually all passenger flights have cargo. Might be electronics, might be food products, any kind of merchandise.
Peter Quinter is a customs lawyer in Florida, a major shipping hub:
Quinter: Most passenger airlines, a huge percentage of their revenue and more of their profits come from cargo than from passengers.
But all that cargo is a security risk.
Quinter: So it might go from Hong Kong to Singapore, Singapore to London, London to New York.
Homeland Security sees those transfers as weak links, where someone could sneak a bomb onto a plane.
Up to now only a percentage of cargo has been screened. Starting Sunday every shipment must be certified. It’s taken years to build systems to do this, says David Brooks. He’s president of American Airlines’ cargo division.
David Brooks: There hasn’t been devices that can accommodate the small envelope all the way up to the 10,000-pound palletes that we may get.
Picture those X-ray conveyor belts for luggage, but big enough for a hot tub. Brooks says American Airlines alone spent $10 million on new screening gear. It will charge clients for the service. And those companies will pass the cost along to you and me.
Brooks: Cell phones, computers, all the things that tend to go by air, at the end of the day it’s going to be the consumers who are gonna see more cost.
But that’s the price of increased security.
In Los Angeles, I’m Eve Troeh for Marketplace.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
