K-9s to screen 100% of cargo by end of 2022

K-9s could be screening as much as 100% of airfreight by the end of 2022, thanks to the U.S. Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) new air cargo screening standards requiring screening on both passenger and all-cargo flights that went into effect on July 1. [caption id="attachment_65890" align="alignright" width="350"] MSA Security bomb Dog Training[/caption] The speed and cost-efficiency of K-9 units as compared to other screening methods are likely to prove beneficial industrywide. “I think all K-9s companies are only screening about 40% of the total cargo right now and over the next year will grow into the 100%,” said Eric Hare, president and CEO of Global K-9 Protection Group (GK9PG). “This is a huge market.” “When the K-9 program came around, it was amazing for us,” said Justin Carbone, vice president of Sound Moves, a vertical of specialty forwarder Rock-it Cargo that focuses on live events forwarding. “Instead of running [the cargo] through an X-ray machine, you just line the cargo up at 2:00 in the morning, and they bring the dogs in, who are trained to sniff for narcotics or explosives, and they just run around and they sniff everything and everybody's good to go.” On average, K-9s are also two-thirds cheaper than other screening methods, said Hare. “The process of using K-9 screening is much faster at handling a large amount of cargo,” Carbone said. Other processes require the swabbing or screening of individual pieces of cargo, which ultimately increase costs, he added, making K-9 screening generally cheaper. Before July 1, Hare’s company had 125 teams in 30 cities screening bellyhold cargo, and now has more than 250 teams at work, with 60 more in training. GK9PG now makes up about 45% of all trained teams as it relates to airlines, ground handlers, and freight forwarders in the U.S., said Hare. K-9 teams are also 85% faster than X-rays, according to Hare. And while their accuracy in detecting dangerous substances is well above that of other screening methods, a combination of K-9s and technology should be used for a 100% solution, he said. Training If there’s one weakness to an industrywide reliance on K-9 screening, it’s the time it takes to train a unit. After being purchased from a breeder and undergoing a medical exam, dogs take up to several months to go through the process of imprinting, or learning to positively identify dangerous substances through smell alone, Hare said. Meanwhile, human handlers undergo an intense background check and then enroll in an eight-week training course to learn to work with their assigned dog. “In addition, during the learning process handlers work their K-9s in controlled training scenarios that present different problems to overcome with their K-9,” Hare said. “This helps the handler learn their K9’s behaviors and indicators that will be invaluable to reading the K-9 in the field during operational searches.” “Most K-9s are continuously trained even after they show a 100% success rate in odor recognition,” according to Hare. Like an athlete, he said, their training never ends. John Johnson, president of Cargo Screening K9 also emphasized the time commitment for handlers and dogs. Handlers and their canine partners participate in “in-service sustainment training” for a minimum of four hours per week, Johnson said. In addition, K-9 units undergo monthly odor recognition training and quarterly audits. This intensive process of training and retraining means K-9 units can rarely be delivered to forwarders or ground handlers overnight, according to Johnson. However, most customers have been understanding that it can take up to ten weeks after time of request to deliver a K-9 unit, he said. “Supply for K-9s is limited; however, we developed a forecast and communicated with our suppliers to curve these limitations based on our projected needs,” Hare said. Certified Cargo Screening Facility (CCSF-K9) “organizations that do not have a strong supply chain will have difficulties acquiring quality K-9s. This will reduce the speed at which the industry can react to additional requests for screening.” Cargo backlogs Not every company was equally prepared to screen the large volumes of cargo added under TSA’s new screening requirements. “It's not like adding another couple small planes. You're adding 100,000 kilos at a time for a 747,” Sound Moves’ Carbone said. “That's a significant amount of volume to add to an already overtaxed system.” Preparation was also required on the part of the K-9 screening companies. “CCSF-K9 organizations that do not have a strong supply chain will have difficulties acquiring quality K-9s,” Hare said. “This will reduce the speed at which the industry can react to additional requests for screening. Many industry stakeholders, such as forwarders and ground handlers have gotten out ahead of the TSA’s July 1 cargo-screening implementation date and brought in K-9 teams to test them in pilot programs, said Johnson. Those who decided to wait are playing catch-up. “We're being very selective on the customers that we go with,” Johnson said. “Customers wanting full-time services are the priority. Anything ad hoc takes a back seat as most of our teams are fully utilized and not able to support those sporadic requirements.”

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