UPDATE - Snapshot - UNHAS air cargo procedures

Content

Overview

The UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) is an inter-agency common service administered by WFP  to provide safe, efficient, responsive and cost-effective passenger and cargo air services for humanitarian and development agencies and NGO partners.

For the Haiti Earthquake response, UNHAS has established an air cargo service to deliver essential relief goods into and within Haiti.

Helicopter Operations

UNHAS is managing1x Mi-8 AMT and 2x Mi-171 helicopters which are currently based in Haiti. Flights have been on-going since 30 January 2010 for both assessment and cargo delivery.

Procedures:

Organizations requiring airlift should file a Cargo Movement Request (CMR) form following the normal procedure and specify that the request is for air transport. The form is available on our homepage at http://www.logcluster.org/ops/hti10a and should be submitted by email to Haiti.cargo@logcluster.org. A letter of request must also be filed with the Logistics Cluster: this is a one time only registration required from authorised organisations agreeing to the terms of use. Templates can be found at: http://www.logcluster.org/ops/hti10a/request-letter/view

CMRs for airlift should be filed a minimum of 48 hours in advance. No dangerous goods can be accepted.

Clear consignors, consignees and complete packing lists must be provided at the time of request, and someone must be on site to pick up the cargo upon arrival.

While the aircraft are heavy-lift helicopters primarily to be used for cargo, requests for urgent assessment missions and passenger flights to hard-to-reach locations will be considered if they are filed through the Clusters. No passengers will be accepted on cargo flights (a cargo escort is permitted on rotary wing flights). A schedule for passenger flights on a fixed route within Haiti has been established. ALL PASSENGER BOOKINGS SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO UNHAS.

Prioritization:

So far, all requests fulfilling the criteria for use of helicopter assets have been actioned. However when the demand for airlift exceeds the available capacity, priorities will be established by the Inter-Cluster Coordination Committee on behalf of the Humanitarian Coordinator. This committee is chaired by OCHA and includes all Cluster leads. Priorities are subject to change based on the current situation and humanitarian needs. 

All enquiries regarding cargo movement, should be sent to haiti.cargo@logcluster.org