UK Revokes Cargo Screening Exemptions

The UK introduced tougher security checks on air cargo shipments from the Middle East, south Asia and North Africa following last week's discovery of bombs on two U.S.-bound flights.

The government has revoked over 30 transshipment exemptions that exclude freight from screening if it is passing through UK airports to a third destination.

Air cargo shipments on certain routes "which might previously have been exempt from screening, will now be subject to the appropriate security measures before transferring onwards," the Department of Transport said.

By The Numbers: International Air Freight Industry.

The Department said the new rules would apply, with immediate effect, to selected routes from India, Iran, Pakistan, the Maldives, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Sudan and Thailand to the UK operated by British Airways, Emirates, Etihad, Kingfisher, Pakistan International Airlines and Jet.

Cargo arriving on these flights would have to be re-screened in the UK before being loaded onto onward flights.

The new rules would create delays for consignments from the affected countries but this would be measured "in minutes and hours, rather than days and weeks," said Transport Secretary Philip Hammond.

"This is a time critical industry and what we are all seeking to do is find ways to enhance security in a measured and proportionate way without destroying what it is that makes air freight so reliable."

The new rules were agreed at a meeting between Hammond and representatives of airlines, airport operators and parcel delivery companies to address security after a bomb was discovered in a printer toner cartridge aboard a Chicago-bound UPS plane at East Midlands airport in central England.

The air freight industry also will test a freight risk "league table" grading packages and parcels based on the country from which they are being shipped.

"We shall be categorizing countries of origin (for freight) according to layers of risk," Hammond said.

Packages originating in countries where screening is more lax would face tougher vetting when they arrived in the UK.

"There is no doubt in my mind that the greater area of weakness is not outbound from the UK but inbound to the UK from airports in countries where standards may be variable."