A chain of responsibility: Lithium batteries and upholding airfreight safety

In April 2021 three cargo pallets packed with China-manufactured Vivo smartphones and accessories caught fire at Hong Kong International Airport (HKG). The battery fire, which reportedly took more than 40 minutes to extinguish, ultimately led Hong Kong Air Cargo to ban the transport of Vivo mobile phones , as well as any cargo from local logistics providers Cargo Link Logistics HK Co. Ltd and Sky Pacific Logistics HK Co. Ltd. Although the Bangkok-routed cargo had not been loaded onto the aircraft when it caught fire, the incident emphasizes the risky reality of potentially mishandling dangerous goods (DGs), whether knowingly or not. Lithium batteries are in high demand around the world, as they power many daily-use consumer items, such as laptops, cell phones and tablets, as well as electric vehicles like e-bikes. While the batteries themselves are not inherently dangerous to transport, the mishandling of poorly manufactured batteries can lead to deadly consequences. Lithium batteries contain more stored energy than other dangerous goods like flammable liquids or corrosives, David Brennan, assistant director of cargo safety and standards at the International Air Transport Association (IATA), told Air Cargo World . “There are testing requirements to verify that the battery type is suitable for transport, but if they’re subject to abuse [lithium batteries] can go into what’s called ‘thermal runaway’.” Thermal runaway occurs when the chemical and electrical components of a battery short-circuit and the battery’s stored energy is released, causing an electrolyte to catch fire which then can generate enough heat to set off the next cell, Brennan explained. Due to extremely high temperatures, battery fires are difficult to control, unpredictable and challenging to put out. Thermal runaway is especially dangerous as it may ignite a chain reaction among all the batteries in the cargo shipment. Incidents like the HKG battery fire, and the most recent fire at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport (HGH) , have led carriers to push for more standardized procedures, documentation and consequences surrounding the transport of lithium batteries. While battery fires are not an everyday occurrence, as demand continues to rise, proper regulation and preventative measures are needed to prevent lithium battery transport missions from being mishandled. A certified mission On average, Air France-KLM (AFKLM) transports 80,000 to 100,000 DG shipments annually, with lithium batteries making up a significant portion of those shipments, Edwin Boon, manager of cargo operational safety and dangerous goods policies at AFKLM, told Air Cargo World . Likewise, the ability to handle DG shipments allows freight forwarder to target bigger customers, especially in the automotive sector, IATA’s Brennan said. “One of our biggest challenges is, because there’s so much demand, there’s lots of people who want to get in on the market [to] satisfy demand, and not all of these people understand the requirements, [and] some of them take shortcuts,” Brennan said. “Our real focus has been on addressing the potential for batteries that haven’t properly been prepared or, in some cases, we’ve seen people lie about what they’re offering.” However, this means that forwarders and other cargo operators must be equipped and educated in order to handle lithium batteries safely, quickly and professionally. When it comes to airfreight transport, a formal certification wasn’t available until last year, when IATA launched the Center of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV) Lithium Battery certification in partnership with France-based forwarder CEVA Logistics. The certification program is designed to enable shippers and freight forwarders to meet and comply with transport regulations for lithium battery shipments. The program consists of three phases: training, assessment and validation, according to IATA. “In joint cooperation with IATA and the experts at CEVA, we made sure that we touched every angle on how to receive, how to handle and pack [lithium battery shipments] and follow the guidelines already set on the DG regulations by IATA,” Peter Penseel, chief operating officer of airfreight at CEVA, told Air Cargo World . “When you’ve showed that you made that investment in people and processes, that is extending trust.” Currently, CEVA Logistics is the only forwarder that holds the CEIV lithium battery certification at its Amsterdam and Hong Kong hubs. Penseel noted that CEVA is in the process of extending the certification to Chicago, Frankfurt, Inchon, London, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Tokyo. IATA’s Brennan noted that other forwarders, as well as ground handlers and airlines, have discussed the certification and what it could mean for their companies. “If you say ‘yes’ to handling dangerous goods, you have to act accordingly,” CEVA’s Penseel said. “We felt like it was a really [important thing] to have a certification to show that we can learn — and must learn — how to handle these kinds of shipments because any human life jeopardized is a no-go for us.” A chain of responsibility Regardless of whether an operator is certified, a chain of responsibility exists when it comes to handling DG shipments that include lithium batteries. CEVA’s Penseel noted that responsibility starts with the shipper, which must declare lithium batteries or DG-related cargo in shipments they book directly with the carrier or by way of a freight forwarder. Regulation regarding the roles and responsibilities of freight forwarders must also be established, IATA’s Brennan noted. “There is no relationship between the airline and the shipper, and so we believe that the forwarder has to have a responsibility, and we’re looking at how that can be brought into regulation,” Brennan said. Fortunately, most DG shipments are declared, booked and packed as they should be, AFKLM’s Boon said. However, when members of the supply chain are not compliant with IATA DG regulations or not privy to what types of cargo are being transported, carriers and forwarders must resort to alternative methods to ensure airfreight safety. “Sometimes in the past people didn’t declare [lithium batteries] because the cost of shipping out DG is more expensive than general cargo,” CEVA’s Penseel explained. In those cases, “people are trying to cheat to save some money and not declare dangerous goods.” To catch those shipments before they can cause harm, freight forwarders should conduct physical checks when shipments enter their custody, he added. To mitigate potential challenges caused by misdeclarations, carriers have been using various types of technology to uphold airfreight safety, including specialized equipment like fire resistant unit load devices (ULDs) . AFKLM, for one, uses technology to monitor key words used on flight bookings that could indicate when cargo contains un-declared lithium batteries, Boon said. Still, catching undeclared DG is also tricky because customers forget to declare lithium batteries or are unaware of what they are transporting. “We have to install our own ways of checking anything that we can, in booking data, shipment data and any other data that is created along the way that is available,” Boon said. For instance, a few years ago AFKLM experienced an incident in Hong Kong that led the carrier to close down its local operation for one day to establish a piece-level screening process for cargo, Boon explained. “Even if there’s no willful conduct behind customers, we know it is complex and we know customers may have trouble in doing this, but if we can see it and catch it, then we are one step ahead of the game,” he said. A criminal offense? While all supply chain members must understand their own roles and responsibilities when it comes to transporting batteries, forwarders and airlines alike have agreed that regulators should step up and act when lithium batteries are misdeclared , IATA’s Brennan said. “There’s been a number of things that we’ve been working on, and one of them is really pushing civil aviation authorities, the regulators, to step up and take action,” Brennan explained. “People have said that [the shipment] is children’s toys and clothing, but it turned out to be thousands and thousands of lithium batteries, and when something like that happens, we expect the civil aviation authority to investigate.” People make mistakes, or may be unaware of cargo they are transporting, raising the question of how to prevent such cases of misdeclaration. However, regulators are expected to take to court those who knowingly lie about what they’re shipping, Brennan said. Excluding the three lost aircraft in the past 15-20 years, there has not been any significant financial loss involved in battery fires so far – typically just a pallet or few shipments, AFKLM’s Boon explained. However, the chance of “the worst imaginable effect or risk,” danger to people, is what most worries the company. “Make the industry aware of what could be the consequences if you are not following the rules and regulations,” CEVA’s Penseel said. “You could be lucky, but then again, jeopardizing human lives and gambling [with that] can never be the case,” he added.

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