FACT SHEET 5 - Air Cargo Security; the background

Current at 20 December 2007.

Air cargo industry

• The air cargo sector accounts for approximately 300,000 tonnes of export air freight with a value of $23 billion dollars. The five top freight export airports are
1. Sydney 40.5 per cent,
2. Melbourne 29.7 per cent,
3. Brisbane 13.2 per cent,
4. Perth 11.2 per cent,
5. Adelaide 2.6 per cent.
• The domestic air cargo sector accounts for approximately 200,000 tonnes of domestic air freight are carried each year. The five main ports of origin are:
1. Melbourne 30.9 per cent,
2. Sydney 27.2 per cent,
3. Brisbane 15 per cent,
4. Perth 10 per cent,
5. Adelaide 4.1 per cent.

Regulation of the Air Cargo Supply Chain

• Australia has had an air cargo security regime built around the regulated agent concept since 1996. It meets Australia's obligations as a member of the International Civil Aviation Organisation. Australia's air cargo security regime is of a comparable standard to the security regimes operating in countries such as the United States, Canada and the UK.
• The air cargo supply chain is subject to security regulation under the Aviation Transport Security Act 2004 (ATSA). The air cargo supply chain consists of a range of businesses including couriers and road transport, wholesale and retail freight forwarders, cargo terminal operators and brokers.
• In response to the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre, the Australian Government through the ATSA and the Aviation Transport Security Regulations 2005, required airfreight forwarders to have and comply with a Transport Security Program (TSP) under the Regulated Air Cargo Agents Scheme (RACA).
• TSPs must address the risks identified in a risk analysis of their specific business that meets Australian and New Zealand risk management standards, and must be approved by the Secretary of The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.
• The RACA scheme covers 900 industry participants in the air cargo supply chain including QANTAS, Australian Air Express, Australia Post, Toll, TNT, FedEx, Menzies Aviation and UPS.
• The RACA scheme requires air cargo to be security cleared prior to loading on an aircraft including a range of security clearance measures which are applied to verify the cargo and preserve its physical integrity at all points prior to loading on an aircraft.
• The layers of security within the air cargo supply chain consist of secure cargo receipt and transfer procedures, secure handling and access control, cargo examination and information disclosure restrictions.

Air freight security action

• The Australian Government is committed to aviation security. Since September 2001 $1.2 billion has spent on enhancements to aviation security. Over $100 million has been spent on improvements to air cargo security for initiatives such as:
• a quality assured competency based security training regime for the air cargo sector;
• additional Transport Security Inspectors to increase the level of audit and compliance activity in relation to the RACA Scheme;
• the introduction of Explosive Trace Detection (ETD) equipment as an additional measure to be applied to examine cargo being loaded at Australias major international and domestic airports;
• the Accredited Air Cargo Agent (AACA) scheme that will supplement the existing RACA scheme from the end of 2008. The AACA scheme will target a broader range of industry participants and establish uniform security requirements for the security of air cargo in the supply chain before being loaded on an aircraft. Regulations to support the introduction of the AACA scheme are currently under development and will be in place 2008;
• the implementation of measures to significantly increase Customs' ability to identify, inspect and respond to high-risk export air cargo;
• the implementation of a number of trials to test a variety of emerging explosive-detection technologies in recognition that there is no one technological solution to the examination of air cargo.
• The Aviation Transport Security Amendment Act 2006 received Royal assent in September 2006. It establishes a new division within the Aviation Transport Security Act 2004 that addresses air cargo.
• The Amendment Act makes provision for two separate classes of regulated air cargo business: Regulated Air Cargo Agents (RACA); and Accredited Air Cargo Agents (AACA), that will be subject to regulations to be formulated in consultation with industry. Primarily, AACAs will be businesses which provide services such as road transport to shippers and RACAs. The AACA Scheme is currently under development.