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Security Management Software
Updated July 04, 2023
Throughout the last decade, the global transportation sector has seen explosive growth, with even greater increases forecasted.
Air travel has soared. The sector is on track to double in size over the next two decades. Just the number of employees affiliated with aviation alone is set to increase from 65 million to nearly 100 millioni. Passenger and freighter aircraft is also projected to double from 23,000 to 48,000 by 2038ii. As for the long-term forecast for air passengers: 8.2 billion in 2037 versus 4.4 billion in 2018iii.
Alongside passenger travel has grown air freight. Air freight tasks are expected to grow by 109 percent by 2030 on the strength of just-in-time delivery for manufacturing and mining products, medical and scientific supplies, and perishablesiv.
Commerce on the seas is thriving, too. Cargo volumes through Australian ports are expected to double by 2040, owing to a consistent trade in primary exports, goods, and servicesv. Meanwhile, the last decade brought double-digit growth to the Australian cruise industry and projections of more growth to comevi.
Of course, the pandemic has thrown a major spanner in the works. But the most recent industry forecasts have held up. Maritime trade is expected to return to positive growth in 2021vii. The long-term outlook for freight also appears brightviii. And the expected widespread distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine has prompted Australian air titans to deliver optimistic outlooks for domestic operationsix. Even the domestic cruise industry is expected to reboundx.
While it might be good for the bottom line, the increased patronage of global and domestic routes does create physical security challenges for the transport sector. For one, the sharp fall in consumer demand during the pandemic precipitated mass layoffs across the industryxi. The expected return to record-breaking traffic to and through global airports, aircraft, ports, and affiliated facilities will certainly test the sector’s level of operational preparedness.
Indeed, high levels of domestic and international passenger growth at Australian airports had already tested the capacity of security infrastructure. Last decade, the country’s leading airports, Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, each set passenger records, with the smaller hubs of Gold Coast, Perth, and Darwin seeing even larger net-growthxii.
Of course, this increased passenger growth comes at a time of evolving transport security risk. The prodigious rise in the domestic cruise industry, to take one example, introduces a maritime attack vector, with crowds of passengers and close proximity to favoured targets of high-symbolic resonancexiii.
The 2010s also saw a sharp increase in the number of individuals inspired to conduct small-scale, randomised acts of violence and terrorism. Unfortunately, the transport sector, well populated with civilian targets, has been a perennial favourite.
What’s made these attacks particularly challenging for law enforcement is that their mobilisation now happens with little or no direct contact with terrorist groups. Extremist propaganda has gone online. The consequence has been that threats on transportation targets present more quickly than ever, with no intelligence forewarningxiv.
High-profile Australian transport facilities have already been targets. In 2017, for instance, two men linked to the Islamic State were convicted of a foiled Sydney terrorist attack against passenger aircraftxv.
The plot failed when the overweight bag carrying the bomb could not be checked in at the airport. But would it have succeeded, prosecutors argue, 400 passengers would have been killed by military-grade explosives concealed inside a meat grinder.
Government responded to this foiled bomb plot by upgrading airport security and increasing police powersxvi. Nevertheless, the deteriorating threat climate continues to put pressure on the transportation sector to keep its facilities, customers, employees, and publics safe. Another motivator for the industry is regulatory compliance.
Federal and state governments have long wielded regulatory levers to ensure transport security. One such federal lever is the 2004 Aviation Transport Security Act (ATSA), which creates legal mechanisms safeguarding against unlawful interference with aviation. In the main, the ATSA establishes minimum security requirements for civil aviation, imposing binding obligations on persons engaged in civil aviation related activities.
The Act specifically obligates aviation industry participants to develop and comply with aviation security programs. Another purpose of this Act is to meet Australia’s obligations under the Chicago Convention.
Matching the ATSA on the maritime front is the 2003 Maritime Transport and Offshore Facilities Security Act (MTOFSA), which creates similar legal mechanisms to safeguard against unlawful interference with maritime transport or offshore facilities. Like the ATSA, the MTOFSA establishes a regulatory framework centred around the development of security plans for ships, other maritime transport operations, and offshore facilities. Plans themselves are intended to make appropriate
contributions to maritime security objectives, including:
Perhaps the most critical piece of security information that would need to be communicated among industry participants is notification of security incidents. And to that end, both the ATSA and MTOFSA have made provisions for the timely reporting of security incidents
Part six of the ATSA imposes an aviation security incident (security incident) reporting mandate on industry participants, including airport operators, aircraft operators, aviation security inspectors, airport security guards, screening officers, and employees who become aware of aviation security incidents. Security incidents themselves represent threats or acts of unlawful interference with aviation, including:
Once the incident is identified, a report must be made as soon as possible – no later than 24 hours after, with penalties of anywhere between 50 and 200 penalty units attaching to stakeholders who become aware of incidents yet fail to report. The monetary amount of a penalty unit is AUD 210 as of 1 July 2017. In cases of where payment is not received, prosecution might commence.
Further, if at the time of making the report, the industry participant does not have required information, but later attains it, that information must also be provided. So, what information must be reported, exactly? The following must be included in incident reports:
The MTOFSA hews to that basic framework. Only in this circumstance, port operators, ship masters, ship operators, port facility operators, offshore facility operators, maritime security inspectors, duly authorised officers, maritime security guards, screening officers, and employees with knowledge of an incident are all deemed persons with incident reporting responsibilities. The following scenarios constituting a security incident:
An interesting wrinkle in both Acts is the provision for security compliance information (information relating to compliance or non-compliance), which the Secretary may require. Should the Secretary request this information, it must be given within a 14-day period, with penalties attaching for non-compliance.
Add to that, in the case of the ATSA, the Secretary may require aviation security information, an expansive category of information that might include (but is not limited to):
Both the ATSA and MTOFSA lay out the same mechanisms for the mandatory reporting of incidents. Aviation/ maritime stakeholders can either complete a security incident report form online, download the form then email the completed form, or phone the transport security coordination team with the required information. Easy enough? Not so fast.
For good reason, both Acts require stakeholders to collect, record, then export numerous pieces of information in a timely manner. Different stakeholders have to report this information to different entities (depending on who they are), though they all have to report to the Secretary and state/territory/or federal police. And the Secretary has the statutory authority to compel even more information.
And if that weren’t complicated enough, consider the fact that security incidents themselves also happen on a broad attack plain, which growing traffic on transport routes makes all the more difficult to secure.
Industry stakeholders aren’t just responsible for reporting these incidents, either. They will also have to respond to breaches or threats, either of which constitute a reportable security incident. What can industry stakeholders do? Technology holds the answer:
Security threats to the nation’s transport sector have increased, as traffic on its transport routes has taken off. The Government has upped the ante on securing transport infrastructure. And it’s also required industry stakeholders to report security incidents under threat of penalty for non-compliance.
Given the nature of transport infrastructure, complying with these regulatory requirements already isn’t easy. Information management shouldn’t add to your challenges. Fortunately, trusted security incident management platforms, like Noggin’s, help stakeholders manage and report their security incidents, keeping them in compliance with the law.
i International Air Transport Association: Air transport supports 65.5 million jobs and $2.7 trillion in economic activity. Available at https://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/Pages/2018-10-02-01.aspx
ii Mark Caswell, Business Traveller: Airbus: world’s passenger fleet to double in 20 years. Available at https://www.businesstraveller.com/businesstravel/2018/07/10/airbus-worlds-passenger-fleet-to-double-in-20-years/.
iii International Air Transport Association, Airlines: Passenger numbers to hit 8.2bn by 2037 – IATA report. Available at https://www.airlines.iata.org/ news/passenger-numbers-to-hit-82bn-by-2037-iata-report.
iv Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE): Australian freight transport overview.
v Ibid.
vi Cruise Lines International Association Australasia (CLIA), 2015, Cruise Industry Source Market Report Australia 2015, CLIA, Sydney. Available at
http://www.cruising.org/docs/defaultsource/research/australia-market-report-2015.pdf.
vii United Nations Conference on Trade and Development: COVID-19 cuts global maritime trade, transforms industry. Available at https://unctad.org/ news/covid-19-cuts-global-maritime-trade-transforms-industry
viii Freddie Pierce, Supply Chain Digital: Long-term outlook for freight rail appears bright. Available at https://www.supplychaindigital.com/logistics/longterm-outlook-freight-rail-appears-bright
ix Lucas Baird, Financial Review: Vaccines may beat bubbles to international travel restart: Joyce. Available at https://www.afr.com/companies/ transport/qantas-to-be-cash-flow-positive-by-2021-20201203-p56k47.
x Cruise Industry News: P&O Australia Expecting ‘Rebound’ of Local Cruise Industry. Available at https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruisenews/23740-p-o-australia-expecting-rebound-of-local-cruise-industry.html.
xi Makhtar Diop, World Bank Blogs: Shore up global transport to defeat the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Available at https://blogs.worldbank.org/ transport/shore-global-transport-defeat-covid-19-coronavirus-pandemic.
xii Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE), 2016, Airport Traffic Data 1985–86 to 2015–16. Available at https://bitre.gov. au/publications/ongoing/ airport_ traffic_data.aspx
xiii Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development: Transport Security Outlook to 2025: Security Environment Review, 2017. Available at https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/transport-security/files/transport-security-outlook-2025 security-environment-review.pdf
xiv Ibid
xv BBC: Australian brothers guilty of IS plane bomb plot. Available at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-49764450.
xvi Rod McGuirk, AP: Australia upgrading airport security after alleged bomb plot. Available at https://apnews.com/ article/8a8cef018e1d472bac48a11d05f7585d.