The Pre-load Air Cargo Targeting (PACT) pilot is an exciting project led by Transport Canada’s Aviation Security Directorate. The project uses air cargo data sent from freight forwarders and air carriers to identify high-risk shipments before they are loaded onto an aircraft coming to Canada. Since 2012, the Aviation Security Directorate has been working hard to develop the concepts to make this pilot successful.
Internationally, this concept is known as pre-loading advance cargo information (PLACI). Canada’s PACT was the second pilot to test this concept and stands out among a handful of pilots testing PLACI concepts. In partnership with other Government of Canada departments and industry stakeholders, PACT has seen a rising influx of data. The PACT team receives an average of nearly one million air cargo messages per year from a limited number of voluntary industry participants. According to Canada Border Services Agency estimates, most air cargo comes to Canada from the United States (upwards of 75%), and the one million messages per year represent only around 15% of inbound air cargo.
Because Transport Canada recognizes the security value of the PLACI concept, the introduction of PACT has been deliberate and focused. Thanks to the recent departmental artificial intelligence initiative, the PACT team is on the cusp of developing the algorithms and message intake capability to handle a much larger volume of air cargo messages. This would provide the team with the tools to assess the risk for all messages received by PACT, and the capacity to receive more messages and intake from more voluntary participants.
In the next phase, and with assistance from the International Air Transport Association, the team will work with local companies to develop a message portal for handling all the data. The team will continue to develop the risk algorithm to better understand cargo information. The team will also look at a wider range of data to help Transport Canada targeters from the PACT team identify high-risk cargo and expand and increase the number of messages assessed for risk.
For more information, please contact Statistics Canada (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca).