Transportation Experts Support Commercial Best Practices In Government Shipping

Christopher Alf and Other Industry Experts Herald Efficiency through Mode-Neutral Approach

Buffalo, NY /PRNewswire/ - Christopher Alf (Chris Alf), co-founder of National Air Cargo, along with other transportation industry experts, heralded the passing and signing of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Chris Alf is quoted as stating the law requires changes to conflicting government regulations that had been causing inefficiency and the potential waste of government funds. In addition to Chris Alf, also active in the campaign to get the law passed was the Air Forwarders Association, American Trucking Association, and multiple independent freight forwarders.

Industry media outlets wrote about the need to clarify the conflicting regulations as well, which include the Air Mobility Command Freight Traffic Rules Publication 5 (AFTRP 5) and Department of Defense regulations.

For example, Patrick Burnson, Executive Editor of Logistics Management wrote that "As a consequence of shipper initiatives and input, the U.S. Department of Defense has clarified some nettlesome--and very expensive--procedures for transporting military cargo."

Air Cargo News summed up the issue by stating that "the legislation is the result of a bitter dispute over conflicting regulations governing the transportation of military cargo. On one side, the 'Defense Transportation Regulations' requires best practices based on a mode-neutral approach. This is at odds with the stance adopted by the USAF Air Mobility Command, which issued its own set of rules a few years ago called (AFTRP 5). The latter state that shipments tendered to air carriers for service must move all or in part via air - unless extreme conditions... warrant the use of surface transportation instead."

An example of the potential waste in government funds noted by Christopher Alf as a result of these conflicts is explained in an Air Cargo World article entitled "Why Air When a Truck Will Do?" It states "... the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services cited one example.... Where the... (AFTRP 5) air requirement nearly doubled the costs for one shipper moving freight from Corpus Christi, Texas. The result was an additional bill to the government of $173,140."

Christopher Alf is quoted in the same Air Cargo World article stating that "The company (National Air Cargo) helped save a third of shipping costs to military bases in Afghanistan and Iraq through the United States Central Command Tender Express program."

In March of 2009, Airforwarders Association entitled "Faster, Cheaper and Safer: Making Best Practice Legal." The article quoted Fried stating "despite valuable lessons from the past, the government hasn't always kept up with commercial best practices. That's why it was a noteworthy shift in government policy when... the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act was signed... The new law [was] considered by many in the industry to be a triumph for military vendors, personnel and taxpayers."

Chris Alf is quoted in Air Cargo World as saying that "most forwarders have adopted a mode-neutral approach all along and moved much of the AMC traffic by truck."

Despite the industry support for best commercial practices and a mode-neutral approach, some experts (including Brandon Fried and Christopher Alf) do not believe that the conflicts in the regulations have been fully resolved.

National Air Cargo was founded by Christopher Alf (Chris Alf) along with his wife Lori Alf, and continues to contract with the government for the delivery of cargo for the Department of Defense. National Air Cargo's web site is www.nationalaircargo.com.

SOURCE Tracking Innovations