Fire at Hong Kong airport heats up scrutiny on hazardous cargo

At 2pm on Tuesday, 08th January an airfreight shipment suddenly caught fire, emitting smoke and alerting airport officials. The shipment, which was suspected to have contained lithium batteries from an electronics company, caught alight before it was loaded onto the aircraft hence authorities were able to contain the fire without injury.  

It was fortunate that goods had not yet been loaded onto the plane, as a fire aboard the aircraft mid-air could have resulted in a much more dangerous situation. However, this is not the only incident in China where mis-declared cargo has resulted in serious consequences. In 2015, Tianjin was engulfed in flames after a container exploded, resulting in over 150 deaths.

Authorities are in constant battle with illegal operations, where the true nature of the cargo is not declared to avoid the tedious processes around handling hazardous cargo. Also, many exporters are trying to catch up with the peak season demands which may result in some entities cutting corners.

The issue with this is that hazardous cargo, which is not declared as such, will not be handled accordingly. Many chemicals and batteries require certain handling requirements and conditions, indicated on the MSDS and Hazardous transport documents. However, if cargo is declared as general cargo then these guidelines will not be followed, it could result in chain reaction leading up to what we saw on Tuesday. The shipper has been black listed, where no carrier will accept their cargo, pending further investigation.

While shipping companies and airlines try to clamp down on illegal operations, other enterprises continue to exercise extreme caution when arranging hazardous cargo, such as ensuring packaging requirements are adhered to and the correct documents are in place and processes adhered to. While this incident did not end with loss of life, airlines and Chinese authorities will be strict when scrutinize cargo, especially electronic cargo and shipments containing lithium batteries.