ThomasNet Industrial News Room, NY
05-08-07
Confronting Toxins, Terrorism and Other Cargo Threats
By Fred White
Theft, construction and congestion have threatened reliability of transportation
systems for decades. Although shippers have learned to adapt to and work
around these obstacles, unpredictable delays, longer transit times and higher
costs associated with inspections may make the past look like the good old days.
Transportation capacity constraints — which occur at freight terminals, seaports,
motor carrier hubs and airports, as well as on roadways, railways, airways and
waterways — are afflicting several supply chain areas in the world as the practice
of global sourcing has increased.
But that’s only part of it, four university researchers recently explained at
IndustryWeek.
Unpredictable delays, longer transit times and higher costs associated with
inspections will make the past look like the good ol’ days, according to Ted Stank
(University of Tennessee), Thomas J. Goldsby (University of Kentucky), Michael
R. Crum (Iowa State University) and Joel Sutherland (Lehigh University).
On the Surface
In the United States, the current administration is aware of the challenge. In
December, President George W. Bush issued an Executive Order called
“Strengthening Surface Transportation Security” (via Logistics Management), in
which he instructed the Secretary of Homeland Security in coordination with the
Secretary of Transportation to “assess each surface transportation mode and
evaluate the effectiveness of current federal security initiatives.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the initiative would help
improve surface transportation security.
The Homeland Security Act of 2002 provides the basis for DHS responsibilities in
the protection of the nation’s critical infrastructure and key resources (CI/KR).
However, the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) says that “private
sector owners and operators undertake CI/KR protection restoration and
cooperation activities and provide advice, recommendations and subject matters
expertise to the Federal Government.” What this means: companies must spend
time writing guidelines for enhancing security and time with government officials
to discuss them, as well as turn over company information.
The NIPP Executive Summary also offers a list of actions to increase protection:
• Hardening facilities;
• Building resiliency and redundancy;
• Incorporating hazard resistance into initial facility design;
• Initiating active or passive countermeasures;
• Installing security systems;
• Promoting workforces surety programs; and
• Implementing cyber-security measures.
In the Air
“When auditors for the U.S. Congress looked at what a proposed law calling for
physical inspection of all cargo shipped on passenger aircraft would cost, they
came up with a final table tab of $3.6 billion over 10 years,” according to Air
Cargo World’s managing editor, Robert Moorman, in March.
Moorman also pointed to House legislation that would phase in 100 percent
inspection by the end of 2009. Moreover, “the White House opposes screening
provisions, saying the technology does not now exist to handle the level of
physical inspection required without impeding ‘the legitimate flow of commerce.’”
The time could come when all cargo shipping shifts away from passenger
airlines.
Although the laws outlining the details of inspection depend on Congress, the
execution of inspection may also be contingent on how quickly scientists and
engineers transform workable plans into usable products that can, for instance,
detect toxins and “weapons of mass destruction.”
Near the Water
For U.S.-based retail container ports, traffic is on the rise and is expected to
break an all-time record in July, according to the monthly Port Tracker Report by
the National Retail Federation and Global Insight, as we note in "Shipping: What
to Look For in 2007 and Beyond".
The ports surveyed in the report — including Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland,
Tacoma, Seattle, New York/New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston, and
Savannah — handled a cumulative 1.28 million twenty-foot equivalent units
(TEUs) in February, the most recent month for which traffic is available.
What does this mean for port security?
Port Tracker author and Global Insight economist Paul Bingham last month told
Logistics Management:
The remaining disruptive threat at the ports this year […] is the beginning of
implementation by the U.S. DHS of the Transportation Worker Identity Credential
(TWIC) program at ports. “The TWIC implementation issue bears watching
because it is not yet clear exactly what will happen to the port truckers or even
the long shore work force due to the new security requirements and background
checks required to obtain a card to have unescorted access to work within port
terminals.”
Lockheed Martin has arranged for “all workers with unescorted access to secure
areas of vessels and maritime facilities to successfully complete a background
check and carry a biometric credential,” according to an announcement. This
could expand into other industries, as well; nuclear and chemical industries come
to mind.
Theft
The terrorist threat is not the only headache for shippers and their insurers. “It is
estimated that combined losses suffered by the trucking industry, insurance
companies and the railroads surpasses $10 billion in the U.S. annually,”
according to the California Highway Patrol.
These transportation thefts largely go unnoticed by consumers — though part of
the cost of products they buy must reflect the losses. Creative minds with a
technical bent have brought some useful technological products to help protect
manufacturers’ interests. For example, global positioning systems, and a silent
tracking device hidden in a protected vehicle have helped foil thieves. The device
uses 2006’s non-story of the year, radio frequency identification (RFID)
technology.
Likewise, the U.S. Navy is using Gen2 RFID readers and tags as part of its
ATAC (Advanced Traceability and Control) program, which manages the
movement and tracking of Navy and U.S. Marine Corps retrograde materials
from overseas back to Naval Aviation Depots and commercial vendor repair
facilities in the U.S.
Material Handling Management reports that the use of RFID technology enables
the Navy to “substantially reduce the costs and improve the performance of its
retrograde materials management operations compared to traditional barcode
technology.”
The leading issue in global transportation management, in addition to capacity
constraints, is increased security, according to Stank, Goldsby, Crum and
Sutherland. Weigh in: Does the threat of terrorism have a direct impact on your
company’s transportation and logistics?