Importers and Exporters have witnessed much disruption to the Bangladesh market over the last 5 months as the issue of aviation security has impacted the transit of Air Freight from Dhaka (DAC) through to Europe and the UK.

Issues relate back to April and May, when the UK Civil Aviation Authority issued warnings that standards of security from Dhaka did not meet the required level.

Action was taken by the UK DoT, who placed a ban on all air cargo coming directly to the UK, meaning direct services could not be used for cargo operations and only for passengers and baggage. Australia and Germany had previously implemented their own bans before the rest of Europe followed.

Cargo carriers were instructed to adopt secondary screening of all air cargo in May before security measures were increased throughout Europe, as additional screening was enforced in all deferred locations, such as Dubai and Doha.

The Bangladesh government reacted by sacking the airport chief of secuirty and issuing a $9.3 million contract to UK security firm ‘Redline Aviation Security‘. The contract tasked Redline with bringing the Airport back to acceptable worldwide security levels.

Security was heightened further following a terrorist attack in Dhaka on 1 July 2016. The attack resulted in the death of 20 hostages and 2 police officers. Daesh (formerly referred to as ISIL) claimed responsibility for the 1st July attack, one of many they have claimed since September 2015.

Security forces in Bangladesh remain on high alert and air cargo is seen as a vulnerable target.