FAA Slaps Amazon With $350,000 Penalty for Shipping Violation
June 13 2016 - 04:30PM
Dow Jones News
The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing a $350,000 fine
on Amazon.com Inc. for allegedly shipping prohibited dangerous
goods by air.
The proposed fine stems from a 2014 incident in which nine
United Parcel Service Inc. employees came into contact with a
corrosive chemical that had leaked through a shipping package and
had to be treated with a chemical wash after feeling a burning
sensation. The liquid leaked from a one-gallon container of
"Amazing Liquid Fire," a drain cleaner, during a flight from
Louisville, Ky. to Boulder, Colo.
The fine comes as the FAA is stepping up enforcement of
hazardous materials safety violations and as Amazon is moving
deeper into the world of shipping goods using its own network of
airplanes, trucks and warehouses.
In 2015, the FAA handed out more than $4.5 million in civil
penalties for improper shipments of hazardous materials aboard
airplanes, up from $3.4 million in 2014, according to a report in
the Dallas Morning News.
The FAA has stepped up hazardous materials enforcement following
several fires aboard aircraft. In 2010, a UPS Boeing 747 aircraft
that had just taken off from Dubai International Airport crashed
when a fire broke out in its cargo hold, which was carrying lithium
batteries, killing both pilots.
Meanwhile, Amazon has moved further this year into the world of
air freight, leasing 20 Boeing 767 aircraft from Air Transport
Services Group Inc., its first major move towards building its own
contract air freight fleet.
In the Amazon incident, the FAA alleged that the shipment was
not properly packaged, was not accompanied by a proper declaration
stating the hazardous nature of its contents, and that Amazon had
failed to provide emergency response information with the package
and that the Amazon employees who handled it had not received
proper training.
"Amazon has a history of violating the Hazardous Materials
Regulations," the agency said in a news release. From February 2013
to September 2015, Amazon was found to have violated such
regulations 24 times, the FAA said, adding that the agency would
continue to investigate the company's compliance with air safety
regulations.
In the case that drew the civil penalty, the FAA said the
e-commerce retailer didn't label the shipment as carrying hazardous
materials and had not trained workers in proper handling of such
goods.
Kelly Cheeseman, a spokeswoman for Amazon, said in an emailed
statement that the company takes air cargo safety "very seriously"
and that Amazon has developed "sophisticated technologies to detect
potential shipping hazards" in the tens of millions of shipments it
sends every day.
Satish Jindel, founder of SJ Consulting Group Inc., which
advises logistics companies, said Amazon will put stricter controls
in place to address such lapses as the company develops more of its
own shipping capabilities.
"As they try to do more of the distribution using their own
network of air and ground services, knowing the distinction between
what can go by ground and what can go by air will become more and
more important," Mr. Jindel said. "Before, when they were smaller,
they didn't have to make as many distinctions between ground and
air."
Write to Robbie Whelan at robbie.whelan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 13, 2016 16:15 ET (20:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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