As the IATA World
Cargo Symposium (WCS) begins its public sessions today, Tuesday, March
10th, it remains to be seen whether the event will deliver value for money
to everyone in Shanghai.
The branding options offered—which, for this year’s
WCS, includes everything from customized swipe-card guest room door keys,
to coffee breaks and other “opportunities,”—are designed
to raise brand awareness for the eager whilst also fattening the event
coffers with handsome merchandising fees.
Early Takeaways From WCS
Still, truth be told: IATA wants to give anyone attending
this event something of value to take home, so they reasoned that a “branded”
mobile power bank handed out with the WCS registration kit would be the
way to go. Power banks are small Lithium-Ion batteries that serve as emergency
power sources for mobile phones and similar gadgets.
DG Gift a No-No?
They're both hugely popular and problematic—dangerous
goods-wise—since they incorporate lithium-ion batteries and travelers
do not identify them as DG; also, because many of them fall under "counterfeit"
batteries.
So that branding move may have raised more questions
than cheers amongst attendees involved in the handling of Dangerous Goods.
In fact, some attendees that know better may be in a
kind of regulatory limbo figuring out whether or not this giveaway has
undergone the tests required by Part III, subsection 38.3 of the UN Manual
of Tests and Criteria, and thus can be safely carried back home either
as baggage or cargo once the WCS fest ends and the lights go out here
later this week.
Don Vito
|
