'The regulation needs to start much earlier in the supply chain, and it must be sufficient to deter bad behaviour'

Has Qatar Airways Cargo ever had to terminate a contract or end a working relationship with any of your stakeholders owing to non-compliance in ensuring the transportation of Dangerous goods- especially Lithium batteries?

Yes. We have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to compliance. We have in the past ended a business relationship with forwarders who did not follow regulations. This is not only for lithium but also for any regulatory obligation.

How does Qatar Airways Cargo handle instances of poor and unsafe packaging and inaccurate declaration when it comes to lithium batteries shipment by your customers?
When we identify non-compliances, we work backwards to try to identify the root causes of the failures. We start with trying to understand what the GHA (Ground Handling Agent) missed if anything. Then we work backwards as far as we can – it's not enough that the GHA takes corrective actions to identify issues, we need forwarders and shippers to know where the gaps are and do their part to correct them. With significant cases (i.e. undeclared, grossly mis-declared), we share the details with IATA via the Dangerous Goods Occurrence Reporting Alert System for further sharing with the industry.

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