LATAM Cargo has become the first airline in the world to receive the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Centre of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV) Lithium Battery certification, which aims to improve safety in the handling and transportation of lithium batteries throughout the supply chain.

“LATAM Cargo continuously evaluates its services and procedures to provide the highest safety standards, which is the main guiding principle for the LATAM Group. We are proud to be the first airline in the world to obtain IATA’s CEIV Lithium Battery certification, which proves our commitment to transporting a critical commodity both safely and reliably. We hope that more players in the industry can become accredited in order to support the safe transportation of a product that is key to air cargo growth,” Andrés Bianchi, CEO of LATAM Cargo, said

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Shipments of lithium batteries -either on their own or in finished products- must meet well-established global safety standards for manufacturing process, testing, packaging, marking, labelling and documentation. These requirements are key to the IATA Lithium Battery Shipping Regulations (LBSR) and the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR), which combine regulatory and operational aspects based on advice from industry experts and government regulators.

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“We congratulate LATAM Cargo on becoming the first airline to achieve this certification. Increasing the number of CEIV Lithium Battery certified stakeholders along the value chain will lead to a safer industry and a higher recognition of this certification. Ultimately, we all want to see the entire supply chain CEIV Lithium Battery certified – from origin, via the transit point, through to the destination. IATA continues to lead the way in providing standards, regulations and guidelines to improve overall quality and safety in the air transport industry,” Frederic Leger, IATA senior vice president commercial products & services, said. 

The CEIV Lithium Battery family is IATA’s most recent CEIV certification. It is in line with similar certifications for the handling of pharmaceuticals, perishables, and live animals.