Bombs on U.S. Bound Cargo Planes- Be Prepared for Implications

Since our initial alert posting on Friday afternoon, more specifics have come forth regarding suspicious air shipments.  Two different packages air shipped from Yemen, one on a UPS cargo plane seized in the United Kingdom, and one in a FedEx cargo facility in Dubai, were both confirmed as explosive devices.  In the case of the package seized in Dubai, it actually was transported on a civilian airliner before reaching the FedEx facility.

In both packages, an ordinary looking laser printer contained a toner cartridge where explosives and electronics circuitry were placed. Authorities in Yemen reacted quickly and have arrested one woman thus far, suspected of orchestrating the shipments.

U.S. Homeland Security officials continue to classify this incident as a “credible threat” and we can certainly expect more implications as a result of this incident. Carriers UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service continue to ban all shipment activity originating from Yemen.

White House Anti-Terrorism Advisor John Brennan appeared on many of the major Sunday news shows and provided what I observed as some different accounts of this incident.  At first, he noted that Homeland Security officials believe that packages were addressed to Jewish synagogues located in the Chicago area.  Mr. Brennan later changed this explanation to more align with a statement from U.K. security officials, namely that the explosives were designed to bring down an aircraft.

A Bloomberg News update notes that one of the two intercepted packages was set to be detonated by a cell phone and the other a timer, and security officials have not ruled out that potentially other lethal packages having being shipped.  What should be of more concern to supply chain management professionals, this article notes that authorities are “looking very closely’ at whether the crash of a UPS cargo plane in Dubai in September is related to the cargo-bombs plot.

Supply chain professionals need to prepare for the implications of this incident.  International intelligence officials have now concluded that these incidents have the tenets of al-Qaeda related terrorism.  The explosive substance found in the two seized shipments is noted as similar to the unexploded PETN found on a terrorist flying on a Northwest Airlines flight on December 25.   Authorities are uncertain as to whether there may be more explosive shipments in the transportation network, or whether terrorists are testing security measures for vulnerability.  If as reported, that the previous UPS cargo plane crash in Dubai is linked to a terrorist act, than that is something with long-lasting implications.

The good news regarding this incident is that international security measures and coordinated measures worked well. Terrorist threat warnings are escalated and we can certainly expect heightened inspection activity of air-related cargo shipments both originating from suspected countries, and general in nature.  With the holiday buying season fast approaching and retailers and manufacturers continuing to maintain lean inventories, flexibility to respond to consumer demand through overnight air may suffer from delays.  Also as noted in our previous Supply Chain Matters commentary related to the previous UPS plane crash, authorities were already suspecting that air shipments of lithium-ion batteries were causing aircraft fires, and I believe that these same authorities will leverage this incident to institute revised air shipment policies for such shipments.  Do not rule out that security officials may also mandate that major electronic sub-components such a toner cartridges be mandated to be packaged separately.

Bottom-line, these air-cargo incidents will indeed have important and unfolding implications to future air shipments..

Bob Ferrari