Officials at the Greater Peoria Regional Airport are confident its air cargo operations are safe from terror attack, dismissing the notion that airfreight offers the same threat to Peoria travellers as passenger baggage.
Cargo aircraft stay in a secured area. Only those who have clearance can load or unload those aircraft," Peoria interim airport director Mary DeVries said. "It's not like someone can pull up (to freight planes) without going through clearance."
Since the overwhelming majority of Peoria air freight is carried on cargo jets rather than in the holds of passenger planes, that significantly reduces the odds that someone can disguise a bomb as air freight and slip it aboard a commercial flight here.
Federal officials have been giving more attention as of late to the idea of screening some air cargo, recently vowing to give cargo on passenger flights the same attention as luggage by the end of the year. Currently, no more than 4 percent of air cargo is thought to be screened.
The issue is a particularly relevant one for Peoria, which is downstate Illinois' largest air cargo hub. Nearly 60 million pounds - or almost 30,000 tons - of airfreight passes through the River City each year, according to airport statistics.
The freight business and related secondary businesses are thought to make up a significant part of the 3,300 full-time workers, 260 part-time jobs and $328 million in annual economic impact the airport creates in Greater Peoria, as cited in a state study two years ago.
Of 58.6 million pounds of airfreight that moved through Peoria last year, at least 57 million pounds - or more than 98 percent - went on air cargo planes that generally carry no passengers, as opposed to being shipped on airliners, which carry passengers.
In Peoria, only badge-wearing flight crews, jet service crews and cargo unloading crews have access to cargo planes, which generally fly in and out of Peoria during overnight hours.
"There's not that many people working on the secured side," DeVries said. "The people driving the (delivery) trucks, they never enter into the secured side." DeVries could not recall any dangerous or illegal cargo being found in Peoria in recent years. "The actual carriers take care of the screening" of both cargo and luggage, she said. "That's not an airport policy."
Federal Express - Peoria's largest airfreight hauler, moving nearly 35 million pounds of air freight here last year - did not detail specific security procedures used in Peoria and elsewhere. The carrier did say it has "hundreds of specially trained security officers and safety specialists throughout the world, as well as a dedicated group of employees who remain vigilant in their efforts to protect themselves and customers' shipments."
"We have highly effective security measures in place that help protect the integrity of the FedEx networks, and are in full compliance with all safety and security directions," the FedEx statement said.
Reproduced with the permission of http://www.eyefortransport.com form http://www.eyefortransport.com news room
