So much for security
By James Aaron Cooke, Executive Editor -- Logistics Management, 10/1/2003
A stowaway who shipped himself hundreds of miles in a crate last month has called into question the nation's laws and regulations governing air cargo security. Charles McKinley shipped himself from New York to his mother's house in De Soto, Texas. Apparently he couldn't afford an airline ticket.
According to UPS spokesman Norman Black, a customer contacted UPS Supply Chain Solutions about a shipment. Supply Chain Solutions, a UPS subsidiary best known as a provider of third-party logistics services, also operates a transactional freight division. That division, Black said, turned to its subcontractor, airfreight forwarder Pilot Air Freight, to move the shipment.
Pilot picked up a crate in New York and drove it to the Newark, N.J., airport. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokesperson Suzanne Luber told Logistics Management that the crate's dimensions were 41 in. x 36 in. x 29 in. Frank Perri, Pilot's executive vice president for sales and marketing, said the shipping documents identified the cargo as "computers and wearing apparel."
Pilot turned the crate over to all-cargo carrier Kitty Hawk Cargo. Kitty Hawk flew the crate from Newark to its hub in Fort Wayne, Ind., and then to Dallas, its final destination.
Pilot picked up the crate at the airport for the final leg of the journey. When the crate was delivered to the house, Perri said, the driver saw some eyes in the crate and reported it to police. At press time, McKinley was being held in a Dallas jail for parole violations while the federal government was deciding whether or not to press charges for misdeclaration of cargo and related violations.
Regardless of the government's decision, McKinley's ability to slip past airport security has caused a commotion. Pilots' groups are insisting that they need to carry guns in the cockpits of all types of planes, and politicians are saying that this incident shows the need to screen all air cargo.
With middle-aged businessmen and old ladies being shaken down by TSA guards at airport terminals, I'm sympathetic to the legislation sponsored by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), which proposes that all freight loaded into the bellies of passenger aircraft be checked. It doesn't strike me as a big deal to run all cargo through an X-ray machine, although doing so most likely will delay some shipments and jack up costs to some degree.
On the other hand, it's not fair for politicians to blow this event out of proportion. In fact, it shows that the current system works. De Soto police said that the shipper listed on the air waybill was "Metro Tech." Because that company was an "unknown shipper," McKinley's crate traveled via all-cargo airline rather than by passenger aircraft. "We treated this shipment as coming from an unknown shipper," said Perri. "Our position is, our diligence in complying with TSA regulations resulted in it being shipped on a cargo-only airline."
Although some might argue that terrorists could adopt McKinley's technique, it's a far-fetched, risky scenario worthy of a Tom Clancy novel. Indeed, McKinley is lucky to be alive. He was fortunate that his crate was placed in a climate-controlled, pressurized compartment throughout his journey—otherwise he could have suffocated or frozen to death.
Considering the legal fees he'll face should he be prosecuted, McKinley has to be wondering if he would have been better off booking a discount flight. TSA's Luber said the shipping charges were $638. "Suffice it to say," added Perri, "he could have traveled as a passenger for far less than it cost to transport him."
Remembering Edward J. Kelly
12/08/2009Services
04/30/2003"Piracy" Surcharge?
02/13/2009
View All On-Demand Webcasts