Kaamco Cargo Committee team leaders: Security Joe Clabby; Ground Handlers, Phil Jensen; Financial, Sukki Min; Postal Affairs, Wally Luber; New Cargo Committee Chairman Yasin Tisdale;
Brokers, Irwin Gold; Freight Forwarding, Trucking, Pete DeBenigno. Photo by Jeff Yapalater
Kaamco Cargo Committee
FOD, mail, hot airport topics
BY JEFF YAPALATER
The Kaamco Cargo Committee
met after a two moth
break due to community
events and came back energized
with new committee
leads, Yasin Tisdale of JFK
GM American Airlines was
appointed Chairman, and
Wally Luber, formerly of
KLM, was appointed Postal
Affairs team leader.
Phil Jensen, ran the meeting
as his final role as Acting
Chair, handing over the leadership
ti Tisdale who enthusiastically
accepted the position.
As a final departing
comment Jensen reminded
the meeting attendees that
Kaamco is not an enforcer of
rules but rather a group finding
ways for issues to be discussed
and facilitate bring
problems to a head.
The two top items on the
agenda were the issue of the
handling, or non-handling
of the mail and foreign object
debris FOD on the AOA.
Since March when there was
a change in the mail movement
to the Post Office, there
has been great concern over
the responsibilities of the
mail handling details.
There seems to be
disconnect=between what
the ground handlers, airlines
and post office detailed
8 AIRPORT VOICE, AUGUST 2019
responsibilities are for mail
delivery , off-loading, sorting
and scanning at the post
office. Ground handlers provide
certain services based
on relationships and contracts.
Biggest concerns are
the wait at the post office for
postal union workers to offload
the tremendous number
of pallets and containers
with mail, and the piling up
of mail equipment in non-authorized
areas posing safety
risks to the airfield.
Port’s Guillio Minguillo
gave a slide presentation on
the FOD. He asked for all
ground handlers and airlines
to remove their equipment
off unauthorized Port
land by August 15th.Failure
to do so might lead to towing
and fees to retrieve assets. He
also mentioned another major
FOD sweep in August to
determine success of cleanup
at near buildings 66, 67
& 84. Chairman Tisdale suggested
ground handlers making
more rounds on a regular
basis to do a better job.
According to a post office
representative via email,
since the Plant Manager
was unavailable to attend
the meetings as were other
ground handlers otherwise
engaged. She stated “Our
ground handling contract
was not renewed. We have assumed
the handling of that
volume – which are inbound
items only – in a facility that
we have leased and staffed
with postal personnel. We
continue to explore all appropriate
options to assure the
expedient handling of this
volume. But we will not be engaging
a third party provider
in this location for the foreseeable
future.” She concluded,
“we will continue to work cooperatively
with our partners
in the complex, using postal
staffing in our leased spaces
to provide world-class service
for the package volumes entrusted
to us.”
The Post Office renewed
leases at the main USPS and
197 buildings are in effect
through February 2021. The
Post Office now uses Building
197 as a back up for high
volume periods of time.
Because of the change in
procedures by the ground
handler in March, Terminal
One took the interim step
of providing mail delivery
to the Post office while matters
were being worked out.
However, the Terminal advised
the airlines that they
were no longer providing
this short-term remedy and
advised the airlines to obtain
specific mail deliveries to the
USPS. According to Kaamco
President and Brussels Airlines
Station Manager at T1,
Ana Lemos said that Terminal
One has a contract with
dnata, and they will work to
bring the mail to a ground
handling facility where it
in return will be delivered
and off-loaded at the Post office.
The issue of left-behind
equipment is expected to be
resolved by more parties taking
detailed responsibility.
In other Cargo reports, the
Customs Border Protection
representative mentioned
that the CBP is looking for
ways to automate and make
mail inspection more effective
against drugs, for one.
To this end he mentioned a
national program called The
Opioid Detection Challenge
. This program is a competition
run by several agencies
seeking out private company
solutions in detecting Opioids
in the mail. At this time
there are eight finalists with
the potential of a $1.5 million
award to the winner.( see accompanying
story on this).
He also mentioned a shift in
shipping of small individual
parcels potentially containing
illegal substances, to
more bulk shipping under
Section 321which allows customers
in the US to import
up to $800 worth of products
duty free. Bundling small
packages=can also be a way
to hid more shipments and
escape detection, unless a canine
is on duty sniffing out
drugs.
Also noted from the meeting:
Port Michael Bednarz
of Cargo announced that a
study was done on the cargo
congestion issue. He said he
received a lot of good feedback
from the cargo members
and that a report would
be soon released with recommendations
oh how to reduce
the congestion and alleviate
some of the related
issues; ULD provider Zachary
Fisher of ALCShop mentioned
that his firm is now
offering Bluetooth service to
assist companies in keeping
tabs on their ULDs around
the airport; Sub committee
leader Pete DeBenigno was
congratulated for being honored
as Veteran of the Week
at a recent Yankee game.
Congrats and thanks for
your service in Vietnam.
Next Kaamco Cargo Meeting
is scheduled for September
26. No meeting in August
due to the fishing trip
on August 8th. If your email
address has changed please
send the updated one to
phil@wfs.aero.
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