Already several years behind deploying biometric card readers to identify transportation industry workers at the nation’s ports, the Transportation Security Administration is not expected to issue a proposal for regulating the devices until late 2012.

A new Senate bill would suspend the July 2012 deadline for scanning all cargo bound for the United States.

Earlier this year, we were once again reminded that the United States continues to face the possibility of a terrorist attack on our soil, a threat that hasn’t abated in the decade since 9/11.

With cargo theft on the rise, trucking companies such as Schneider National and Con-way Inc. are relying on the latest technology — as well as increased collaboration with security consultants, insurers, shippers and law enforcement — to fight criminals who have become more sophisticated.