07/24/08 Shipping Problems Pt. 2

Shipping Problems Part 2. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. The tragedy of 9/11 continues to have far reaching impacts, especially when it comes to airlines. Extreme caution and specific mandates may soon cause major problems for exporting fruit and produce. Mark Powers, Vice President of the Northwest Horticulture Council explains. POWERS: Actually the way it works is the regulated entity in this case are the air carriers so they are the ones who are mandated by law to make sure that this 50% or 100% target is met. And what the air carriers have said is that they can't do it. At issue are regulations requiring the screening of fruit and produce that is being shipped by commercial air carriers. Due to a number of issues, chances are good that product may sit until it can be screened. POWERS: Obviously that's a huge risk fro anyone shipping cherries and what TSA has done is said okay, we're going to put together some voluntary opportunities for screening and push it back up the supply chain. TSA is of course the security agency at airports. Powers says they are looking into this approach. POWERS: If a shipper want to do the screening in his facility or the freight forwarder wants to do the screening in their facility, they can do that then tender screened cargo to the air carrier. So what we're trying to find is a way for industry to meet these regulations. That they would agree to be regulated voluntarily by TSA. Tomorrow we finish up talking about yet another issue in the screening process. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.