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Cargo X-ray
eventually be deployed due to the “The air cargo operating environment maintaining high throughput, system
practical operational issues involved. can be very demanding for the screening speed and operator training, and the
Adding to the challenges of cargo equipment,” says Tobin. “One of our cost of the systems, servicing and
screening is that much of the world’s Certified Cargo Screening Facility training,” says Shakouri.
cargo carried on passenger aircraft is customers is using the ACX6.4 for Shakouri points out that the
shipped in pallets, skids or containers, inspecting containers of fruits and responsibility of screening falls on the
which can all generally be referred to as vegetables and we’ve developed a airline and the freight forwarder.
Unit Loading Device’s (ULD). Packed system option to harden the equipment Through the Certified Cargo Screening
within these storage units is anything for environmental factors like water, dirt Program (CCSP) in the United States,
from expensive electronics and and other debris that baggage systems and similar programmes throughout the
computers, mechanical equipment, fresh don’t typically encounter.” world, such as Canada’s Air Cargo
food, car parts or even whole vehicles, Hooman Shakouri, Product Marketing Security (ACS) initiative which
and pharmaceuticals, to horticultural Manager for Rapiscan Systems, notes addresses both air cargo and supply
products such as fresh flowers. Breaking other challenges. chain security, freight forwarders can
down certain ULD’s to a piece-level size “There are different technologies assume the screening responsibilities
will slow down the cargo process, and needed for different commodities, and conduct screening at their
may subject the contents to damage and plus, the challenge of breaking down facilities, far removed from the airport.
unnecessary handling. the large pallets into smaller boxes, “TSA has determined that airlines, air
“The key issue here is that everyone is
sensitive to the impact to shippers of
breaking down a pallet into its individual
packages for the purposes of scanning,
and then reconstituting the pallet,” says
Gregory J. Tobin, Director Strategic
Marketing for L-3 Communications. For
certain commodity types, this may not be
necessary and the entire entity could be
scanned and assessed.”
There are other advantages and
disadvantages to screening cargo. Unlike
checked baggage screening, there can
be many items shipped in air cargo that
would not normally be seen in a
passenger’s baggage. This can also
benefit the air cargo screener who will
know from the manifest what items are
supposed to be within a container and,
as such, what to look for.
“Cargo consists of larger objects that
contain more material which often
require higher energy X-rays to
penetrate,” explains Tobin. “The physics
to help us determine the type of
materials that are present changes as
the X-ray energy increases and
techniques that work at the energies
used on smaller objects such as baggage
do not necessarily scale up to those
needed to penetrate cargo pallets. The
human factor is equally important. Unlike
baggage, the operator knows what is
supposed to be inside the cargo
container he is looking at, which tends to
be more ordered and uniform than
baggage, making it easier for a human
operator to spot threats.
Other challenges may not be as
apparent, such as the environment
that the screening technology must
operate within.
Aviationsecurityinternational August 2009 www.asi-mag.com 37
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