All cargo in passenger planes to be screened

Smiths Detection, part of Smiths Group, has announced that Lufthansa Cargo is acquiring 19 IonScan 500DT desktop bomb detectors for its US airport locations, Shipping Gazette reported.

The dual trace desktop explosives detectors recently won US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) approval making it on their Qualified Products List.

The 500DT, which replaces the IonScan400B, can identify small amounts of explosives from a single sample in seconds, said a company statement.

Lufthansa Cargo is the first to deploy the equipment for ground-to-air cargo screening in early accordance with the TSA rule requiring all cargo in passenger planes to be screened by 2010. It recently announced the creation of security hubs in Chicago and Los Angeles.

These advances are helping implement the 100 per cent cargo screening sought by authorities, said Smiths Detection managing director Stephen Phipson.

Source: Transportweekly