Cargo Types & Rules

Acceptance
In principle, any shipment of valuable goods that does not have confirmed space reserved for all segments to be Made by the same, from the origin to the destination, shall not be accepted, except for regular and commercially important customers of our Company, in which case the following conditions shall be met:

The itinerary is from point to point while it is guaranteed that the shipment will be embarked on the first departing flight.

We guarantee to inform the destination of the shipment prior to arrival in order to ensure its custody.

When a shipment of value must be transferred to another carrier company, an indispensable condition prior to acceptance shall be to have the agreement and confirmation of the second carrier, that space is reserved.
Security at Acceptance
Before accepting Valuable Cargo, the following shall be taken into account:

That the AWB is prepared following all established rules, that the corresponding rate and applicable charges are the correct ones and that there are no corrections or cross-outs on documentation.

Verify that the packages are impeccably parceled, that it includes the addresses of the shipper and consignee that the weight corresponds as reflected on the AWB. In general, packages shall not be accepted with a minimum size of 10x10x20cms, and for USA destinations, less than 30x30x30cms.

Please verify that the seals of the package or packages are in perfect condition. No valuable cargo shall be accepted if the packages do not have some sort of sealing device (straps, sealing wax, stamps, tape markings of the shipper, etc.) such that it is truly possible to detect that the package has not been unduly handled.

Valuable shipments shall not be accepted for loading when their arrival at the destination takes place on or over weekends or public holidays, except for domestic traffic and for international traffic when prior approval is received from the destination station.

NOTE: In Anglo-Saxon countries, the weekend begins on Friday at midday.

For the acceptance of any class of valuable cargo, it shall be essential to acquire the corresponding “Declaration of Value,” thereby recording the corresponding charges on the air waybill and keeping in mind all exceptions to this rule (INSURANCE Section of this Chapter).

The Acceptance shall not be signed until the shipment is in the safe and it is locked.

Finally, before accepting goods of this class, consult the following points of theTACT:
Restrictions due to the nature of the cargo
 Restrictions due to weight and dimensions
 Restrictions due to value

Air Namibia policy is to assure that articles or substances which are capable of posing a risk to health, safety, property or the environment and which are considered dangerous goods are accepted in accordance with the International Dangerous Goods Regulations. It is also Air Namibia’s policy to ensure that non-declared dangerous goods are not accepted and that any article or substance suspicious of containing dangerous goods is checked before the acceptance and the safety is guaranteed during the flight.

Articles and substances that are specifically identified in the ICAO Technical Instructions as forbidden in aircraft under any circumstances will not be accepted on board of Air Namibia aircrafts unless exempted by States under the provision of Dangerous Goods Regulation.

Class 7, Fissile Radioactive Material will not be accepted for carriage on passenger aircrafts (see IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations).

Acceptance
As with all other goods with special handling, dangerous goods have to arrive at cargo terminals with confirmed space booked on each and every one of their legs, whether Air Namibia or any other company handles them. Once the booking is verified, procedures will be followed in strict accordance with the requisites set forth by the current year IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations as well as the Cargo Operations Manual of Air Namibia.

The acceptance and checking of all Dangerous Goods Shipments will be made by staff members who have received Dangerous Goods Acceptance Training and who hold a valid Dangerous Goods Certificate recognized by Air Namibia or other authorized organizations.

Acceptance
All goods that have a limited term of validity can be classified as PERISHABLE (PER), due to the fact that they deteriorate or lose value due to temperature and/or humidity changes or due to any delay in transport.

Perishables shall only be accepted for transport when it is reasonably certain that they will reach their destination in good condition.

The shipper shall be informed, before accepting space reservation from the same, of the maximum and minimum times between which the goods will be accepted, which will depend on the station, but in general it will be very few hours before the flight.

Before accepting these goods, it shall be verified that there is no ban or restriction on the places of origin, destination or transit.

Before acceptance, it shall be verified that all necessary space bookings (including the bookings for transfer and transshipment) are made and updated. In the event that this fails, a booking shall be made in advance that adapts to the shortest route and that presents the least possible climate changes.

Shipments will not be accepted under any circumstance unless fully paid at point of origin.

It is known that the transport of live animals involves some risks (plagues, trade of species in danger of extinction, bad transport conditions, etc.) and that the public authorities of countries have tried to minimize as much as possible through the means within their reach.

One of these means has been to dictate rules for achieving safe and quality transport, at the same time encouraging international protection conventions for fauna.

The objective of this chapter is to establish certain, compulsory procedures for all offices of the Company that, in the performance of their functions, may be involved in this kind of transport.

The procedures are based on the IATA Regulations for the Transport of Live Animals, the Legislation of the Namibian, Internal Rules of Companies (notices in force) and the International Convention of C.I.T.E.S.

Bookings
Like all shipments that require special treatment, during the transport of live animals it shall be compulsory that they have confirmed space booked on all legs of the journey in order to be accepted, whether Air Namibia or not.

When the booking offices receive a request of space for these shipments, they shall verify that they do not concern Species Protected by C.I.T.E.S. To do so, once the scientific name of the animal is known, they shall consult the IATA Regulations for the Transport of Live Animals and reject those that are found in Appendices I and II of this Convention, with the following qualifications:

Acceptance
As a general rule, NO shipment of live animals shall be accepted without the confirmed space booking for each one of the legs to be taken, whether by Air Namibia or by another company.

2 hours before the estimated time of departure (ETD) is established as the time limit for accepting shipments of live animals. Nevertheless, and whenever circumstances may require it, this time may be less, but never without the prior agreement between the shipper and the corresponding traffic office or ranking superior.

Prior to acceptance, it shall be essential to complete the Checklist established by the Company. It shall be completed according to the instructions given on the same, and the IATA Rules and Regulations in force shall be consulted for this transport, especially the regulations of the State and the regulations of the carriers involved, given that it is the only place where we have them available.

Special attention shall likewise be paid to the kind of container used for the shipment. Those that do not comply with the requisites stipulated in the IATA Rules and Regulations shall not be accepted, given that it could have a negative impact on animals and ultimately damage the organization financially as well as the image of the Company.

As it is one of the documents requested on the checklist, we must insist that it is compulsory NOT to accept shipments of live animals without the “SHIPPER’S CERTIFICATE” correctly filled out and in duplicate.

“Air Namibia will not be held liable for any loss or expense derived from death due to natural causes and/or injury due to the acts and behavior of the animal or of other animals.” Therefore, all air waybills that cover a shipment of live animals, for any kind of traffic or kind of animal, must include this clause.

Given the special characteristics that concur with this kind of goods, their transport is regulated by different legislation (ICAO, IATA, country specific, carrier specific, etc.), and each and every one of them must be observed in the successive phases of their transport. Any incident in any kind of transport can have damaging financial and image consequences, but in these cases, the situation is made worse for the carrier.

Bookings
Like all goods that require special handling, it is essential that shipments of weapons, munitions and explosives have confirmed space bookings from the origin to the destination, whether it is a single flight or one with transshipments or whether the entire journey is made by Air Namibia or by another carrier company.
As from the entry into force of the Weapons, Munitions and Explosives Regulations, the security and custody of these kinds of goods are the exclusive liability of the carrier. Therefore, no space control office or booking office shall confirm a booking for the shipment of these kinds of goods without first having obtained from the station manager, or from the cargo terminal manager, of both the destination station as well as all transit and or transshipment stations, confirmation of the possibility to adopt the security measures necessary for protecting the goods (our own security personnel or personnel hired from third parties).

If the response to this inquiry is negative due to the fact that the destination station did not have the means to guarantee the security of the goods, the booking shall not be accepted up to that point, wherefore an alternative station must be sought which complies with the aforesaid .

In order to accept a booking of ammunitions and/or explosives, keep in mind all incompatibilities, both between these goods, and with all other dangerous goods, thereby consulting the pertinent tables that can be found in the IATA Rules and Regulations and in Chapter 8 – Dangerous Goods – of this manual.

Acceptance:
Weapons
The Weapons Regulations approved by Government of Namibia published in the Government Gazette, the requisites and conditions for the manufacturing and repairing of weapons, their limitations, copies and pieces, as well as everything of concern to their transport, storage and trade, their purchase and transfer, their possession and use, in order to set the necessary rules to comply with these requisites and to protect the collective security.
In order to comply with the Weapons Regulations, the rules set forth below shall be followed, thereby keeping in mind that all rules that affect the transport are included in the rules which include the obligation to affix a label that identifies these packages and their specifications and dimensions. These requisites will be the same for the imitation and/or copy weapons.

Transport Permits:
These guides cover transport, and there are two classes:

•  Transport permits for domestic territory and for transit.
•  Transport permits for export and import.

Other Goods with Differentiated Treatment
Those good that, due to their characteristics, the special attention that it will be paid during their transport or their serious repercussion, require clearly differentiated treatment. Therefore, the quality of their transport is highly important to the Company.

This encompasses the treatment that should be given to the transport of live human organs and tissues for transplants (kidneys, eyes, etc.).

Given the serious repercussion that the most urgent service possible could have, it shall be given priority over any other kind of shipment.

This chapter likewise includes the treatment that must be given to the transport of supplies of medicines and of blood and plasma (for both transfusions and for analysis verification).

Acceptance
These kinds of goods have a present preferential order of priority, and SPACE BOOKING IS NOT NECESSARY. Departure shall be scheduled for the first flight that complies with the route, according to the schedule.

Storage and stowage
These kinds of goods must be handled and loaded as vulnerable cargo (in other words, as goods without a declared value but that require special safety handling).

Storage shall comply with all handling instructions on the package.

All precautions shall be taken so that the priority of this shipment is taken into account during the documentation, preparation, cartage and stowage of the cargo.
During stowage, these packages shall be put in a place that guarantees their perfect preservation, thereby taking into account the handling instructions.

All shipments of human remains will be treated with all the care that our organisation can provide. We must not forget that behind a shipment of these characteristics, there are people going through difficult times. We must provide all of our attention and care so that there are no mishaps.

When a request for a booking is received, the requesting party must be informed of the flight for which the booking is scheduled and of an alternative in the event of deviation of the existing flight schedule.

Before accepting a confirmed booking, the contact telephone number must be confirmed in order to see if notification is possible in the event of any change due to force majeure or incident in the transport.

The preceding telephone number must be included on the air waybill in order to be able to communicate any deviation of the booking.

The Handling Service shall comply with the provisions of sensitive goods, thereby including custody, accompaniment to the airplane and telex to the destination.

The aforementioned notwithstanding, these goods, due to their very nature, have a preset order of loading on board (see loading priorities in Chapter 16), and like all goods that require special treatment; they must have a confirmed booking on all legs to be flown. It must be verified that the dimensions, especially in the case of coffins, are valid for shipment in the kinds of airplanes for which the booking is made.

Acceptance
The existence of the booking indicated in the preceding paragraph shall be verified, which may not be changed without advising the consignee. It must be assured that the cargo terminal is operational at the estimated time of arrival of the flight.  The correct labeling of the packages shall always be verified, whether the labeling is performed by Air Namibia or if they arrive labeled, thereby taking special care when the shipment includes more than one coffin. It is essential that the address of the consignee be complete, as stipulated by rules.

These kinds of movements involve compliance with a series of legal requisites in both the origin and destination countries, which must be resolved by the shipper or the consignee or by the person or entity who has been assigned, and these requisites, for the carriers, translate into a series of documents that must be requested at the time of acceptance.

NOTE: The original documentation must go with the coffin and one copy into the air cargo documentation.