Security Briefs: April 5 - April 11
The Latest Headlines:
- Tankers Urge Background Checks for All
- Five Dead as Natural Gas Truck Crashes in Tunisia
- Emery Forwarding Opens Ambassador Bridge Brokerage Office
- Northwest Mechanics Sue Over Background Checks
- FMCSA Considers Hazmat Security Role
- Airport Security May Cost $6 Billion in Fiscal 2002
- FAA to Set Foreign Cockpit Rules
- Pilots Ask to Carry Guns
- J.J. Keller Offers Truck Driver Security Training Program
- Five Dead as Natural Gas Truck Crashes in Tunisia
Tankers Urge Background Checks for All
National Tank Truck Carriers urged the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to broaden the federal mandate for background checks to everyone seeking or renewing a commercial driver license.The USA Patriot Act requires federal authorities to certify that drivers of hazardous materials loads do not pose a terrorist risk to the United States. But the tank truck sector said that limited focus is hurting its companies.
“It’s unfair to single out one aspect of the industry,” NTTC President Clifford Harvison said.
Harvison said drivers are not renewing hazmat endorsements simply because they don’t want to deal with added administrative requirements and costs, especially when their compensation is no greater than for other commercial drivers. Transport Topics
This story appeared in the April 8 print edition of Transport Topics
Six Dead as Natural Gas Truck Crashes in Tunisia
A truck filled with natural gas crashed into a wall surrounding a synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba on Thursday, killing the driver and five other people and injuring about 20.Police called the crash an accident, the Reuters reported, but several witnesses said they feared it was a deliberate anti-Semitic attack.
U.S. officials have expressed concerns since the Sept. 11 attacks that terrorists could use a truck as a bomb. Transport Topics
Emery Forwarding Opens Ambassador Bridge Brokerage Office
Emery Forwarding, a division of Menlo Worldwide, said this week it has opened a customs brokerage office at the Ambassador Bridge near Detroit. The Ambassador Bridge connects Detroit and Ontario.The new office will likely help Emery speed border crossings for trucks and cargo trains. Since Sept. 11, more stringent inspections have caused increased delays at U.S. border crossings.
It will provide a full range of customs brokerage services for cargo crossing between the U.S. and Canada as well as cargo traveling through the U.S. to Mexico.
"The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has opened tremendous business opportunities along the U.S. - Canada border,” said Ted Iwaszkiw, vice president of customer brokerage. “Our customs brokerage unit expansion is a reflection of the positive growth that the unit, as well as the region, have been experiencing."
Menlo Worldwide is a subsidiary of CNF Inc, which is ranked No. 3 in the 2000-2001 Transport Topics 100 list of the largest trucking companies in the United States. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
Northwest Mechanics Sue Over Background Checks
Mechanics at Northwest Airlines filed suit against the airline Tuesday, claiming that its background checks look at workers' histories for 20 years, instead of the 10 years required by federal law, USA Today reported.The government began phasing in a rule requiring background checks for new hires last year, but expanded it to all aviation workers after Sept. 11.
Last week, flight attendants told USA Today they were concerned that airport mechanics did not have to pass through medal detectors before gaining access to airplanes. Passenger planes often carry air cargo, and delays could disrupt transportation networks.
Northwest said it implementing employee fingerprinting and background checks in compliance with the federal directives. Transport Topics
FMCSA Considers Hazmat Security Role
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Hazardous material transport by truck could soon be regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, agency Administrator Joseph M. Clapp said at last week’s International Truck and Bus Safety Symposium.Hazmat responsibility chiefly lies with the Research and Special Programs Administration at the Department of Transportation.
Clapp said the government will seek comments from safety and security experts on how to protect cargo, whether armed escorts for certain shipments should be provided and whether trucks should take certain routes to reduce exposure to potential terrorist attacks.
The FMCSA administrator's call to regulate more of the operations of the industry comes two months after RSPA issued security recommendations for trucking. Those recommendations include using surveillance technology to track shipments, picking the safest routes and providing guards for some shipments. Daniel L. Whitten
This story appeared in the April 8 print edition of Transport Topics.
Airport Security May Cost $6 Billion in Fiscal 2002
Aviation industry officials say that the cost of increasing airport security could cost more than three times what had been budgeted for this year alone, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.Changes in the way the government protects the airline industry could affect passenger flights, many of which carry airfreight. These delays could disrupt ground transportation networks, including trucks.
The need for greater manpower and more bomb detection equipment at airports is among the reasons why the Bush administration will ask Congress for an additional $4.4 billion, bringing funding for the new Transportation Security Administration in the current fiscal year to more than $6 billion.
Unless Congress approves the funding, concern is growing that security could take money from improving aviation safety and reducing runway congestion, the article said. Transport Topics
FAA to Set Foreign Cockpit Rules
The Federal Aviation Administration is preparing to issue rules requiring foreign airlines flying to the U.S. to have the same cockpit security upgrades as domestic carriers, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.The added expense of boosting security measures in planes could be passed along to air cargo shippers, thereby increasing the cost of shipping airfreight.
Most carriers have already strengthened cockpit doors in response to the terrorist hijackings of Sept. 11, the Journal said. The FAA wants all commercial jets to have doors that withstand and hold out armed hijackers. Transport Topics
Pilots Ask to Carry Guns
The five largest pilots' unions in the United States asked President Bush to allow them to carry firearms onto their planes, USA Today reported Friday.Since Sept. 11, several improvements to airline security have been discussed or implemented. The idea of pilots carrying weapons has met with mixed responses.
Two of Bush's top officials said that the administration opposes the idea of guns in the cockpit, USA Today reported. However, a poll conducted by Time magazine and CNN said that 61% of Americans favor the idea, the paper said.
The pilots say that such a measure would insure that no hijacker could take control of a plane like the ones, which were used on Sept. 11 to destroy the World Trade Center and attack the Pentagon. Opponents of the idea said that guns in the cockpit would create more problems than they would solve, the paper reported. Transport Topics
J.J. Keller Offers Truck Driver Security Training Program
J.J. Keller & Associates Inc. said last week it has unveiled a new training program called Truck Driver and Cargo Security that can help truckers protect themselves and their cargo.The program includes a video explaining ways to increase security at pickup, in transit and at delivery. There are also handbooks so drivers can do additional reading on security.
The company said in a release on its Web site that the topics include supervising loading, using trailer seals and planning trips. Transport Topics
