Shentong loses air transport license

One of China's largest delivery companies has lost its license to transport cargo on commercial airlines after a corrosive chemical leaked from its container on a flight earlier this month, local media reported Monday.

The company, Shentong Express, as well as two other delivery firms, had their air transport licenses revoked for putting passengers in danger by failing to declare that the container contained a hazardous substance, according to a press release from the China Air Transport Association.

The chemical leak occurred on a Juneyao Airlines flight from Shanghai to Beijing on March 10, forcing the plane to make an unscheduled landing in Ji'nan, Shandong province, according to a report in the Oriental Morning Post.

The chemical, diethylaminosulphur trifluoride, is corrosive and combustible, the association said.

It is unclear what caused the container to leak.

However, once the leak started, it reacted with other goods onboard the plane, said an association staff member who asked not to be named. The chemical reaction produced smoke that set off a smoke alarm about an hour after the plane took off at 6:51 pm.

The flight crew took measures to deal with the smoke until the plane could land, the report said. Once on the ground, investigating authorities discovered the chemical onboard.

Although Shentong Express had been hired to deliver the chemical, it didn't have an air transport contract with Juneyao Airlines, so it outsourced the delivery to another company, Shanghai Bingxin Logistic Co Ltd. However, Bingxin Logistic also didn't have a contract with the airline, so it hired a third company, Shanghai Shenhaijie International Logistic Co Ltd, to deliver the package on its behalf.

Government regulations require delivery companies to declare when they plan to ship hazardous substances on commercial flights, the association staff member told the Global Times.

Shenhaijie, however, listed the cargo as documents, wires and shoes, according to the association's statement.

The loss of the license will damage Shentong's reputation to some extent, but it will not affect its business because it can contract out most of its cargo deliveries to other companies, said Xu Yong, chief consultant at China Express and Logistics Consulting.

The case is not the only one in which an express delivery company has lost its license to transport cargo on commercial flights.

YTO Express, another of China's largest delivery companies, lost its license after police found lithium batteries among its packages on a China Southern Airlines flight on October 22.

The companies said their staff failed to find the prohibited batteries because they didn't have time to inspect every package onboard the flight.