UK bans use of explosive-sniffing dogs in cargo screening

The UK’s Department for Transportation issued a surprise ruling last week, banning the use of sniffer dogs in the screening of air cargo. The notice came on Thursday afternoon, with no warning, and advised that as of one minute to midnight on that day, dogs “cannot be used to screen air cargo in the UK until further notice. This applies to originating and any transfer cargo that is not subject to a current UK transfer cargo screening exemption.” The notice went on to say: “If cargo cannot be screened to the required standard using any other appropriate method…such cargo cannot be flown in or from the UK. It may be shipped by sea or it may be sent by road to another EU state for screening using dogs: other EU states retain the capability to screen consignments using dogs.”

Needless to say, this was met with considerable anger by the UK air freight community, which viewed it as effectively telling the world “We don’t want your air freight – send it to France or Germany.”

Our European editor Alex Lennane has the full story on her blog, here.