PRESS ROOM

U-Freight has an active presence in the Australian airfreight market through our long-standing partner, Seaway Logistics and notes that the country has joined the US and Canada in adding stricter security requirements for cargo originating from European and CIS countries.

Australia now requires that cargo being transported on passenger aircraft destined for the country should only be tendered from shippers with whom the forwarder has an Established Business Relationship (EBR).

The Special Security Direction was issued by the Department of Home Affairs and applies to a total of 55 countries.

According to UK forwarder association BIFA, carriers are taking similar but not always identical approaches to implementing the regulations.

“As there are subtle differences between individual carriers’ procedures, contact should be made with them to clarify their precise requirements,” BIFA said.

The Australian forwarder association, IFCBAA, has said that under this measure, air cargo consignments originating from 55 countries mainly located in Europe over 500g lodged by an unknown sender cannot be sent to or transferred in Australia on passenger aircraft. Such cargo may be uplifted on freighter aircraft only, subject to additional security checks and inspections.

The new requirement follows a similar move by the US and Canada in response to reports that two packages containing incendiaries had caught fire within European parcel networks, with German police suspecting they were designed to damage infrastructure.

Expressing concern over the new security requirements, the global forwarder association FIATA said the emergency measures will have a significant impact on shippers in the European and CIS regions where they apply, particularly for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with lower volume shipments.

For more information about the U-Freight Group's air freight forwarding and logistics services to and from Australia, please visit the relevant pages of this website or contact your local office, details of which can be seen here: https://www.ufreight.com/en/location