Hong Kong Air Cargo, several airlines ban shipments of Vivo phones

Aviation Updates Philippines – Following a fire incident involving a shipment of Vivo cell phones at Hong Kong Airport, several airlines including Hong Kong Air Cargo have embargoed the shipments of devices along with logistics partners on its flights. 
Image: Hong Kong Air Cargo A330 (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

According to The Standard, a batch of Vivo Y20 smartphones were a part of recent cargo shipment to be flown to Bangkok via Hong Kong Airlines' subsidiary Hong Kong Air Cargo. Some of the items caught on fire while on the tarmac before loading at Hong Kong Airport, and footage and video of the incident surfaced on social media.

As a result, a flight operated by Hong Kong Air Cargo to Bangkok was rescheduled and the carrier stated the incident is under investigation.

"We noticed that a shipment of goods, some of which were Vivo products, got burned on the parking apron of Hong Kong International Airport on April 11th,” a Vivo spokesperson said in response to Android Authority. “We have paid high attention and immediately set up a special team to work closely with the local authorities to determine its cause.”

Following Hong Kong Air Cargo's decision to halt shipments of Vivo phones, several airlines such as Garuda Indonesia, SpiceJet, and GoAir have also banned the carriage of phones from the smartphone brand.

In a report from India's Economic Times, Spicejet's cargo division chief executive Sanjiv Gupta stated in a April 13 circular: “With immediate effect, acceptance of mobile and accessories shipment from company manufacturing Vivo has been restricted till further notice on all SG flights.” Gupta further added: “If any undeclared or mis-declared mobile shipment/accessories found during screening, tendering dangerous goods, the agent will be blacklisted.”

Separately, Gaurda Indonesia is also taking the same precaution pending an investigation.

“We have temporarily suspended cargo shipment of a certain smartphone brand, following an cargo fire incident in Hong Kong involving the smartphones some time ago,” Garuda CEO Irfan Setiaputra was quoted in a report on Kumparan.com (translated on Coconuts Jakarta) without mentioning the Vivo brand by name.