Air Canada Suspends U.S. Cargo Shipments Amid TSA's Security Amendments

Photo: Air Canada airplane Everystockphoto.com. 

U.S. Transport Security Administration (TSA) announcement of new security directives and emergency amendments that take effect today resulted in Air Canada Cargo issuing a bulletin on Wednesday, March 9, that it will not ship air cargo to the U.S. until TSA compliance can be ensured.

An Air Cargo official statement through its spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick provides that “[g]iven the short notice, it will not be possible for us to implement the necessary measures to ensure compliance and as a result, we are required to embargo all cargo flown to the US effective March 10, 2011 until further notice. Shipments already accepted prior to this date will be carried to destination."

“In spite of everything, it’s business as usual,” said FedEx senior communications specialist James Anderson, commenting on the new TSA screening rules and regulations.

The TSA would not go into the specifics of its new air cargo security directives, however, most industry reports provide that it has tightened existing air cargo security for flights to the US due to last year’s terrorist attempt to ship explosives aboard a cargo aircraft.

U.S.-based freight forwarders will likely see an immediate impact on existing international transactions involving air cargo operations from Canada to the U.S.

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