Safe & Secure Cargo On The Go

Non-compliance with standards and over stepping the prescribed safety measures by a small segment of shippers are posing challenges to air cargo security. This practice, if continued, will lead to disasters that will adversely affect the air cargo value chain. Imposing stricter compliance rules and creating more awareness about the impending danger is the only way to plug the holes.

- Renjini Liza Varghese

Freight movement plays a crucial role in the trade of any country. Air cargo has gained a significant position in terms of the preferred mover of high value cargo. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the airlines transported 52 million metric tonnes of goods, representing more than 35 percent of the global trade by value in 2016. However, if considered in volume terms, it constitutes bearly one percent of the total cargo moved worldwide.

The pattern and components of goods carried by air has changed in the recent past with the onset of e-commerce platforms. Interestingly, of late, there is a sizeable increase in the volume of electronic goods shipped as air cargo. Experts name air cargo as the backbone of the thriving e-commerce industry as it offers the time advantage over other modes of transportation.

In the new era of technology, ensuring safety and security in the air cargo appears to be easy than earlier. However, the surge in electronic goods cargo bring along impediments that are not dealt with earlier. On one hand, when the freight forwarders and airlines are banking on technology to assure 100 percent safety during transit, they are also becoming more vulnerable to newer threats.

The key concern that is marring the industry currently is the possible danger from the packed lithium batteries. As these items reach various carriers in the packed form, airlines and airports are left with very little option, but to accept them believing what is recorded on the packets.