A Nose for Cargo: Canine screening may become cargo security’s best friend

A whiff of the future

As of Feb. 15, Daniels said GK9PG employs a total of 126 trained canines that are just for cargo screening. Of those dogs, 73 have been paired with handlers and passed TSA certification.

As the programs grow, and more forwarders see how much they can reduce their airline cutoff times, Daniels said he expects to see “double the adoption rate in the next quarter. The TSA moved really fast and, in doing so, it outpaced some procurement processes.”

For now, the focus is on making sure there are enough teams to handle the expected demand in 2021, when canines may be called upon to screen 100 tonnes of cargo at a time from a widebody freighters. “If everyone waits till June of 2021, then it might be an issue,” Daniels said. “For now, there has to be a rollout plan to assure that there isn’t a shortage.”

With his years of experience with trained canines, Daniels estimates the total market value for the canine detection niche to be around $300 million to $400 million, “based off of the average cost and the forecasted numbers by 2021.”

The next two years will be crucial, said Peery of Mercury Air Group. “Once you have to screen freighters, the use of dogs will spread around the country like a virus – but in a good way,” he said. “You see carriers like FedEx, UPS, DHL – all those express carriers will have heavy-lift portion as well.” A well-trained canine team can screen a full 777F load in about 45 minutes, he said, whereas an X-ray machine may need four or five hours. “With mulitple freighters, you may be looking at a couple-day delay.”

“I think there’s a strong and equal interest in canine detection across the entire spectrum, whether it’s the airlines, the all-cargo carriers, the freight forwarders and the ground-handlers,” said Murphy of MSA, which is planning to open seven training facilities across the U.S. “If it wasn’t for the entire industry advocating TSA for this program, it wouldn’t be where it is today.”