News / White House calls on forwarders in its war on illegal fentanyl shipments

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The US government has decided to address the fentanyl crisis – and has tasked freight forwarders with trying to prevent the illegal shipments of the drug, or its chemical parts, entering the US.

However, forwarders are extremely concerned that this could lead to moves towards 100% screening of shipments, which would cause chaos in the air cargo supply chain.

“Illlicit fentanyl-type drugs accounted for over 100,000 US deaths last year,” said Brandon Fried, executive director of the Airforwarders Association.

“Putting that into perspective, less than 3,000 were killed in the World Trade Center attacks. So the US really needs to start focusing on this issue. And now the White House is looking at intermediaries – freight forwarders and others – as possible tools in the fight against illicit fentanyl traffic coming into the US.”

He explained that it was not just the fentanyl itself, but pill presses and chemicals being shipped individually to make up the drug.

But forwarders don’t have insight into every shipment, he added.

“We’ve told the White House we are here to help, but most of the time we are dealing with data. We rely on what we are told is in the package.”

One solution could be the introduction of sniffer dogs, already widely used in the US to detect explosives. Mr Fried said: “The US needs to start investing in dogs to allow for technology to detect these illicit substances.

“But any notion of 100% physical inspection of every single package is a non-starter to us. That would impede the flow of commerce. And, certainly, fentanyl is not in the majority of shipments coming across. Chemicals are coming in through other ways. They’re coming in on trucks, being smuggled – it’s a multifaceted issue.”

And not only are dogs expensive to train, but the component parts of the drug, which are often shipped separately, can be highly dangerous, he added. “If you’re around fentanyl itself, it could kill you just by breathing it in.”

Other possible solutions involve scans and detection via technology, “aggressive law enforcement” and education.

“It’s also about training the stakeholders on what the red flags are. If you see something that’s not described right, or just doesn’t make sense, there are red flags where we can notify authorities. Maybe a new shipper shows up that you’ve never heard of and all of a sudden they are shipping and vague on their content description; give the authorities a call.

“Forwarders have been in the security business since 11 September 2001. We know how to do these things.

“However, we must resist calls for 100% physical inspection of packages, an approach which would grind air cargo operations to a halt, disrupting legitimate trade and harming the global economy.”