100% SCREENING OF CARGO LESS THAN SIX MONTHS AWAY

Many shippers and forwarders are still in large numbers sitting on their hands believing TSA will be hard pressed to keep top their deadline of August 1st, of all airfreight having to be screened. They feel because they have the security of numbers, the Department of Home Security will have to back off and postpone the date. That belief could not be further from reality. If it were to happen (and it won’t) companies like CII will be very angry indeed. For three years we have dedicated three senior staff to security and have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in training and procuring equipment.

CII’s original motivation was at first it could become a great source of income because it would be a perfect fit for our wholesale forwarding operations. Unfortunately after a couple of experiments earlier this year taking on outside forwarder customers’ screening we have realized it is a hugely expensive and time consuming exercise. The result is instead of being a pathfinder, we are going to sit back and see what happens come August 1st. The airlines were the idiots that have set the initial standards and should their rates become the norm when 100% screening becomes the law, then we are out of the business of being a neutral screening facility.

In order to survive, over the years we have had to adapt to market conditions. We make no secret of the fact our entertainment division is growing in leaps and bounds, and Corrigan’s Express, our niche forwarding operation, has enjoyed exponential growth since 2002. Our wholesale operation has matured and even there we see a greater future acting on behalf of overseas forwarders than we do with the local community. The problem is the Chinese attitude of expecting their service providers to do everything for nothing has hit the American forwarding industry. The result is our business model has had to be modified accordingly to adjust to these new market conditions.

Our philosophy on our screening capabilities plain and simple is we are going to sell our services to the forwarding community at a commercially viable rate. If we can’t, then we will find customers who are willing to pay. So six months before “D-Day, I am letting everyone know, don’t think we are going to become a sucker like the airlines have been. If you wish to take advantage of our services, you will be quoted and charged a rate that provides us with a reasonable profit over our costs. Your alternative is to invest what we have to be completely independent or hope for some fool who will allow himself to be screwed. We will not be such a mug.

Tags: screening, TSA; DHS