Hello and welcome to a new episode of On Air with Air Cargo Next. I'm Courtney Blackann, an associate editor with Air Cargo Next.

Today, we will be speaking with Steve Alterman. He is the president of the Cargo Airline Association. He also has an extensive background in law and studied at the Boston University School of Law.

He additionally sits on a number of advisory councils within the aviation industry. Steve is here today to talk about a new regulation that will be implemented on November 1 of this year regarding how unique products are screened.

In order to comply with new standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, TSA will now require that unique products are screened at a certified cargo screening facility, or CCSF. Steve is here to explain what this means for the industry. And why this is important moving forward, along with what will be changing and some of the challenges.

Steve Alterman: The quick answer to your question is that while 100% of cargo moving on passenger planes has to be screened in one way or another. That hasn't necessarily been true for all cargo aircraft. And the real trigger for a lot of this was a change in the ICAO regulations which required 100% screening or didn't require it because ICAO is not a regulatory body, it's a standard setting body. But I to put past a new standard saying anything being transported internationally outbound from the United States must be screened. So these products, which are extremely low risk, and we've never had a problem with them, had never been screened. Because there was really no reason to think what they are. These are unique products. It's like big drums for chemicals. It's like airplane parts is airplane engine, large things and things that can be penetrated by the normal way of looking at things and the normal way of screening cargo. So those had, there was no requirement before the change in the ICAO standards to do that. But when when I came to change the standards, and the United States said, Okay, so we now have this standard, which we're going to comply with. All cargo moving outbound from the United States to a foreign destination now has to be screened. And suddenly, there was this awakening within the industry that said, Wait, what about these small percentage of unique things that we can screen? And so what TSA did was they said, Yeah, we sort of get that, but and so granted temporary exemptions from that rule, while they figured out what to do now, if you ask most people in the industry, they'll probably tell you that TSA is like every other regulatory body. And they're the regulators. And we're the regulated and they tell you to do something, and you have to do it. While that may be sort of true, it hasn't been true in this instance. And so the Semi long answer to this is TSA said, we get it, we have to get these things screened, because that's the standard, which we've agreed to, to accommodate, but we understand your problem. And so we'll give you a temporary exemption till the end of October of this year, where they're not granting any exceptions anymore. And we will work with you in an attempt to figure out how these things can move. Because there were there were parts of TSA, which said, well, they just can't go on an airplane. Well, you know, when united blows an engine, they can't wait for some boat to take it. Right. These are products that need to move by air. I mean, the commodities that are like chemicals and barrels are, are vital to the computer chip industry. We need to be competitive in that industry. These are things that need to move by air, you know, they can't move, you could put them on a boat, but that's not the way the economy works. So what TSA did an industry did together. And I've always said that both safety and security in the air cargo business worked best when the industry and government work together to identify the gaps to identify the risks, and then work together on finding solutions. And that's what's happened in this case, what one of the problems is that? The one thing you discover the air cargo industry right off the bat is, there's nothing like there is no one size fits all. Everybody operates differently. I mean, even a FedEx and UPS operate differently, certainly operate differently from the large heavy freight carrier. And they operate differently from the air freight forwarders from the indirect air carriers. So, what we did the challenge here was to figure out how these pieces of cargo these unique pieces of cargo could move without doing violence to the ICAO standard without compromising security. But getting the product from point A to point B as quickly as possible, TSA in the industry had been talking together over the last few months. And what they've come up with is the idea that, okay, they've got to be screened. But maybe they don't have to be screened by the air carrier. If it could be screened at the starting point by the manufacturer by the shipper, the ultimate shipper. If they could be screened at that point, and then transmitted through the supply chain with certifications that protect the chain of custody. Maybe that's way to go. And so what they've done is there are these things called CCSS. But they're basically certified cargo screening facilities that TSA says, Okay, you can you can, you know, you can screen these things. Well, if a shipper as opposed to a screener, as opposed to a company that does screening. If the shipper says, Okay, we're building these barrels of chemicals, or we're building up and we're doing making the engine that needs to be transported. And we can screen at each step of that and certify to the next step in the supply chain, that we've done. X, Y, and Z the TSA demands, it could then move through the supply chain with the certifications and with the chain of custody protected. Maybe that's the way that this could work. So what TSA has done is said we're not granting any more exemptions, after October 31. And what you industry have to do is you have to convince, you have to convince your shippers, the people that need these things transported to become regulated by TSA and become a CCSF. And so we've got the CCSS. And so if the if the if the shipper is willing to do all it needs to move the goods and needs to move the by airplanes, and they understand that the only way to do it is for them to apply to become a CCSF at TSA, and take on those responsibilities, and then set up the supply chain. So the chain of custody is protected and procedures are protected. Then those those things can move without the airline actually doing the screening. They can rely on the CCSF the shipper to do that as long as whether an indirect air carrier is inserted between the shipper and the direct carrier, the airline, I would say over 80% of shipments that move that way move through an indirect air carrier. The the actual airline very rarely has direct contact with the shipper. So this thing happened, they get it. And what they'll get is they'll get the product and the paperwork and then they then they can ship it, that that's where we are at the moment. What this would do on an international scene, it would make the United States very similar to what's going on in the rest of the world because of this ICAO standard. So it's sort of interesting because shippers are not normally regulated. It's the people that do the transporting that are regulated. Within ICAO, there's a thing called the unknown consigner. And that's, that's basically a shipper who does this type of thing. The known consigner itself doesn't exist in the United States. But what TSA is proposing to the carriers in this instance, is very similar to becoming a known consigner that the rest of the world recognizes it's voluntary legally, but it may be absolutely necessary to get the shipments moved sort of a way of the industry and government working together to solve a problem that didn't exist before the ICAO standard came into effect.

ACN: When did the ICAO standard come into effect?

SA: It came into effect about five and a half years ago, but there was a, there was a grace period of five years. The other thing is reach the same level of safety and security. But they may get there in different ways, because the industries are so different. But that's sort of the way we got from point A to point B on this thing. And I find it, we've been following the issue and try to work with our carriers and work with TSA. But because of the uniqueness of each individual carrier, we sort of said, here's what you have to do, here's what you work with TSA on this and, and there is we're going to try to figure out how these people can become CCSS and then set the paperwork trail forward, and we'll be able to work through that way. But the shippers have to be convinced to join the program. And the indirect air carriers and the carriers that are carrying this freight, have to work within their own supply chain to figure out how to make it to make it work. And I hope it works. I mean, I think this is this is a unique example of industry, and government, recognizing an issue, figuring out what the risks are, and then figuring out the mitigations, to make sure those risks are abated. Both TSA and the industry are working to make it work.

ACN: You mentioned that the US would be with these new standards kind of falling in line with the rest of the world. So is the United States the only country prior to these new ICAO standards that is not screening these unique products.

SA: I don't know when I say the rest of the world. I wasn't implying that everybody else does this already. Because I don't know the answer that question. All I'm saying is that this would this would sort of this would ensure that the United States is in line with the standard that ICAO said I don't know.

ACN: So what is the risk? If, you know, say someone's not compliant with it, which I know is not going to be accepted after that October 31? Date? But what is what's the risk of not screening these sorts of odd and large products like jet engines, you were saying?

SA: Well, if you look at history, very little, if any problems with it and the problems you have with it is a lot of times within ICAO, it's going to be a bit messy as we get towards October 31, there'll be people probably that don't get the word or don't get the word in time to become a CCSF. So what we've encouraged TSA to do is to get the word out, basically, because sometimes, when a carrier says we need X, Y and Z VisionPRO say why we were not going to be regulated by the United States government. Well, now we have to tell them, we can't carry this stuff. And that's when they start panicking.

ACN: So what does that do to like, someone in the US that's or say Boeing is shipping this jet engine part to somewhere over in Asia? And it gets over there, and they realize that it hasn't been screened properly by a CCFs?

SA: That's a good question. I mean, it gets over there. Once it gets over there. If it hasn't been done properly, Boeing would be liable to enforcement action by TSA, because they would have voluntarily joined the CCSF program. And they would be under the jurisdiction of of Tsa, tsa would have their normal processes for violations. In that case, I believe that if in fact it complies with the US regulations, that it would be okay and Singapore wherever they're going. But if they haven't complied with the requirements of being a CCSS, they would be subject to enforcement action, but by the TSA compliance people.

ACN: We'd like to thank Steve so much for his time and for sharing the important information regarding this new policy and what it will mean in the future of air cargo. You can look for more coverage and stay up to date at Air Cargo Next.com as we cover this in the coming weeks.