IATA launches online tool for dangerous air cargo transport compliance

The International Air Transport Association has launched a new online air cargo tool, dubbed Dangerous Goods AutoCheck, to assist airlines, handlers, third-party logistics providers and shippers comply with dangerous goods requirements.    The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has launched a new online air cargo tool to assist airlines, handlers, third-party logistics providers and shippers to comply with dangerous goods requirements.
   IATA estimates that more than 1.25 million dangerous goods shipments are now transported by air each year.
   “With the air cargo growth forecast at 4.9 percent per year over the next five years, this number will rise significantly,” said Nick Careen, IATA’s senior vice president of airport, passenger, cargo and security, in a statement. “To ensure that air cargo is ready to benefit from this growth, the industry needs to adopt modern and harmonized standards that facilitate safe, secure and efficient operations, particularly in relation to carriage of dangerous goods.”
   He said the organization’s new Dangerous Goods AutoCheck is “a significant step towards achieving this goal.”
   DG AutoCheck allows air cargo shippers and logistics providers to check the compliance of the shipper’s declaration for dangerous goods against all related rules and regulations contained in the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations.
   Optical character recognition (OCR) technology also allows the conversion of a paper shipper’s declaration of dangerous goods into an electronic format. This data is then processed and verified automatically using the XML data version of the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations.
   In addition, DG AutoCheck allows ground handlers to accept or reject a shipment during physical inspections by providing a “pictorial representation” of the package with the marking and labelling required for air transport.  
   “The DGR (Dangerous Goods Regulations) lists over 3,000 entries for dangerous goods. Each one of which must comply with the DGR when shipped,” said David Brennan, IATA’s assistant director of cargo safety and standards.
   “The paper DGR is 1,100 pages long. Manually checking that each shipper’s declaration is compliant and the packages are correctly, marked, labelled and packaged is a complex and time consuming task,” he added. “Automation with DG AutoCheck brings us a giant step forward. The cargo supply chain will benefit from greater efficiency, streamlined processes and enhanced safety.”
   IATA said a working group composed of more than 20 industry groups helped develop DG AutoCheck. The group consisted of airlines, freight forwarders, ground handlers and express carriers, including Air France-KLM Cargo, Swissport, Panalpina and DHL Express.