"Too Dense"....

[Air-Tech]

Is anyone having issues lately with export by air deliveries failing x-ray inspection & having "do not fly" orders imposed?

I'm predominantly using two carriers for air freight & in 6 years or so I've never had an issue until about 2 months ago. I appreciate the requirements for x-ray inspection on air freight, but I'm struggling to understand why I now have an issue on items that I've successfully sent by air numerous times in the past (products & packaging are the same as they have always been).

Initial I assumed that the first "do not fly" was a one-off caused by dodgy equipment or an operator having a bad day, but on receiving the second I took it up with the carrier. According to them it's the CAA that's responsible for x-ray inspection & that they are not aware of any changes to the process, but it seems peculiar that only one of two carriers seems to have this issue if the CAA scans for everyone....

Anyone have any knowledge / insight into the process?

Thanks.

[Fairyglass]

I see you've not had any replies- we export (and import) by air pretty regularly and I've not had any issues. However our products are high volume, low weight and I'd be surprised if they were viewed as too dense. If you do find out what's going on, I'd appreciate knowing, in case it has an impact on our business too. Good luck.

[Air-Tech]

Ben,

We use Parcelforce for EU orders & these variably ship by air or road dependent on the destination & it's Parcelforce air that's caused the issues. After consistent returns for the same type of product (20>30Kg silent compressors with heavy steel motor housings..) we are now sending these on a DPD road service to destinations that PF fly in the EU.

Beyond EU sales on these particular items are few & far between & we haven't had any since this problem raised it head. We typically use UPS for beyond EU on this product range, so the next time we get an order I'll find out if the issue is across multiple carriers.

The story I'm getting is that the CAA are pretty shady about their processes & that what is / isn't suitable to fly is a grey area, which considering why they are x-ray scanned in the first place is understandable.

Martin.

[Fairyglass]

Hi Martin,
Thanks for the update. Sounds like our businesses are wildly different so I suspect we won't have the same issues as you. We don't use Parcel Force- when shipping by air we tend either to use our freight forwarder or Transglobal Express who seem to be amongst the cheapest for ad-hoc shipments. Anyway, I hope you don't have a recurrence of your shipping problems.
All the best,
Ben