The UK Department for Transportation (DFT) is set to conduct 'Air Cargo or Mail Carrier operating into the Union from a Third Country Airport (ACC3)' audit for the second time to examine again the performance of air cargo security system of the country, according to sources at Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
They said the audit will be carried out before the end of validation period of the first audit, conducted in 2015 with a validity period of five years, due to change of the country status into 'Red'.
Meanwhile, Biman will restrict the entry of freight forwarders' employees in the cargo village area of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in Dhaka from February 01 to enhance security of the cargo area ahead of the audit, according to a notification by the national flag carrier.
In this regard, the aviation security liaison officer for Bangladesh Naqib Akbar, who coordinates the DFT activities in Bangladesh, is scheduled to hold a meeting with the Biman's cargo officials today, officials said.
Bangladesh has got the accreditation due to performing well in the first audit. But the DFT is conducting the audit again as the country status changed into 'Red' due to weaknesses in the security system.
Biman general manager (Public Relations) Shakil Meraj told the FE that Biman showed good performance in the Regulated Agents3 (RA3) audit conducted in November last.
Biman will not allow any freight forwarders' staffs or loaders, except for their supervisors and Biman cargo officials, from the first day of next month, aiming to improve the security, said Mr Shakil.
Around 600 loaders have been deployed in the cargo village and cargo import areas, he added.
Biman sources said the national flag carrier has incurred a loss of Tk 1.10 billion in 22 months after the UK's ban on direct cargo from Bangladesh since March 09, 2016. The amount of loss was increasing day by day as the cargo flights go empty to the European destinations.
Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has appointed British aviation security consultant company, Redline, for two years to improve the airport and cargo security in Dhaka.
The CAAB and Biman have so far invested a huge amount of money for installing various security machinery and systems since then, but no progress in lifting the cargo restriction was visible so far.
The Redline trained up CAAB and Biman staffs and officials, members of airport security force, and prepared airport security manual, but the efforts yielded no positive result.
Biman installed 125 close circuit cameras in the cargo terminal and cargo village as it is under their supervision, appointed 600 new manpower, trained them on cargo handling procedure and security, escorting the cargo from godown to the aircrafts, scanning the cargo-carrying vans through using under-vehicle cameras, stock the cargo in the restricted RA3 zones specially designated for those destined for the European countries after scanning those by double view X-ray machines, using explosive detection system (EDS) and explosive detection dog (EDD).
After so many efforts by the CAAB and Biman, no positive signal has so far been received from the UK's side.
A high-powered government team, including immediate past civil aviation minister Rashed Khan Menon and the CAAB chairman, visited UK in December last year to pursue the issue.
But the new minister ASM Shahjahan Kamal recently said there was little chance that the ban will go soon.
