Recently, the pressure to prevent imported cases at the capital airport has continued to rise. A large volume of medical aid supplies—ranging from disinfectants to medical devices equipped with lithium batteries and other hazardous materials—needs to be transported through the capital airport’s customs checkpoint. Following the Beijing Winter Olympics, BGS is once again facing a peak period in ensuring the safe transportation of hazardous goods.

One minute on stage takes ten years of practice off stage.

Given the challenges associated with handling air cargo containing dangerous goods—such as the complexity of operations and stringent storage requirements—the Cargo Department established, in 2009, a dedicated International Special Cargo Unit specifically tasked with handling dangerous goods, providing safe and efficient ground-handling services for air freight containing hazardous materials. The International Special Cargo Team consists of two main components: front-end inspection and acceptance, and management of the international special items warehouse within the facility. As a specialized team in the civil aviation industry focused on handling dangerous goods, the International Special Cargo Team boasts exceptional expertise and strong professional capabilities. Their outstanding skills are inseparable from their relentless dedication to learning and rigorous training.

“The higher the danger, the greater the expertise required.” To ensure that employees’ professional “skills” continue to improve and never decline, all members of the International Special Cargo Team undergo specialized training annually, organized by entities including the Civil Aviation Administration, specialized safety training institutions, airlines, and the company itself. Currently, all 25 members of the International Special Cargo Team hold Category VI hazardous materials handling qualifications certified by the Civil Aviation Administration, and have actively participated in key missions such as ensuring the transportation of supplies for the Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics, facilitating the outbound shipment of COVID-19 vaccines, and providing critical support for international auto shows.

The transportation of dangerous goods is fraught with uncertainty at all times. To enhance our ability to respond effectively in emergencies, the Special Cargo Team has, based on a further clarification of emergency support requirements and job responsibilities at each stage of the dangerous goods handling process, regularly organized comprehensive emergency drills for all staff, continuously improving their emergency response capabilities and practical skills. The International Special Cargo Team consistently upholds the corporate spirit of "pursuing excellence and striving for perfection." As of now, the team maintains a safety record of "zero accidents" and has received numerous honors from higher authorities and the company itself. Its professional expertise has earned high recognition from both customers and industry peers.

Invincible—Creating the “Eighteen Bronze Warrior Formation”

In addition to the stringent requirements for collection and transportation, storage is also one of the major challenges in handling dangerous goods. The BGS hazardous materials warehouse has been storing nine categories of dangerous goods—including flammable liquids, toxic substances, radioactive materials, and corrosive substances—for an extended period. On average, the daily volume of dangerous goods entering and leaving the port can reach 40 tons.

In terms of mechanism management, the International Special Cargo Team pioneered security management mechanisms such as “double-check by two people” and “dual-person, dual-lock system.” By adding an extra layer of oversight and assigning specific responsibilities to additional personnel, these measures further ensure the accuracy of hazardous materials documentation and the integrity of cargo packaging. The outstanding results achieved have earned recognition from peers in the industry. Under the “dual-person” management system, the International Special Cargo Team also set a new record by safely receiving 140 tons of hazardous materials in a single day.

In terms of information-based management, the Freight Department has equipped the warehouse with advanced automated fire protection systems, security and intrusion-detection systems, and radioactive dose monitoring systems—both domestically and internationally. These systems provide real-time monitoring of the warehouse from three key dimensions: fire protection, security, and technical safeguards, thereby ensuring comprehensive and all-around cargo safety.

In terms of civil defense engineering, the Cargo Department has equipped its warehouses with warehouse managers holding qualifications for handling hazardous materials, who conduct comprehensive inspections and supervision of all goods throughout the entire process. These managers perform full inventory checks of the warehouse’s contents at least twice daily and carry out routine patrols of the stored goods every four hours, ensuring 24-hour, all-round safety monitoring coverage. In addition, the warehouse is staffed with two fire safety supervisors who hold firefighting certifications and are thoroughly familiar with various fire emergency response procedures. They conduct round-the-clock inspections and monitoring of fire safety compliance and fire equipment within the warehouse. On top of this, the Cargo Department has established a separate security duty post to strictly control access to and from the warehouse, ensuring maximum security.

Revolutionizing the old and ushering in the new—clearing the "Ren and Du meridians."

The transportation of dangerous goods primarily involves two main branches—receiving and shipping—and comprises five specific stages: "receiving, inspection, storage, loading, and shipping." Due to their inherent characteristics—such as flammability, explosiveness, strong corrosivity, toxicity, and radioactivity—each stage is marked by heightened operational risks and stringent operational standards. Given the complexity of the receiving and shipping processes and the high level of professional expertise required, the International Special Cargo Team has innovatively proposed a digital, end-to-end information management solution for dangerous goods, with a particular focus on developing a specialized information management module for dangerous goods.

According to the plan, the hazardous goods information management module will leverage cutting-edge technologies such as big data and mini-programs, offering dual-mode shared services via both web and mobile platforms. This will enable end-to-end digital management of hazardous goods operations, paving the way for the electronic transformation of the entire freight industry chain. The electronic hazardous goods management module features functions including hazardous goods declaration information verification, cargo acceptance and dispatch inspection, warehouse entry and exit management and inventory tracking, as well as patrols of hazardous goods storage areas. The introduction of this module will phase out the current traditional practice—relying on paper-based records and manual document review—for the acceptance, storage, and emergency management of air-freighted hazardous goods. In addition, the module will be equipped with a synchronized digital function for real-time access to on-site emergency response information related to hazardous goods. This function can pinpoint the storage location of hazardous goods in real time and perform automated big-data analysis on their associated information, significantly enhancing the efficiency of emergency response and comprehensively improving the safety assurance capabilities for hazardous goods handling.

As of now, the Cargo Department has received a total of 2,178 tons of hazardous goods, including Class 3, Class 8, and Class 9 materials, setting a new record for the safe daily receipt of hazardous goods at 140 tons. Moving forward, the Cargo Department will continue to leverage its professional expertise, comprehensively perform hazardous goods handling and transportation tasks, and safeguard the safety of the cargo yard through concrete actions.