Plus the major thing is everything is presented packaged all ready so you really dont know whats in the box.
That's what struck me when it was stated as undeclared, was it presented on the waybill as a non haz commodity? If it was and the consignor is a known shipper, then the freight agent would have no reason to queston it...It may be something as idiotic that the original shipper did not want to pay a haz mat fee..
Thats the problem with contracting out your cargo handling, you have no control over the training the contractor gets. Back in the 80's & early 90's when our freighter ops were strong we were IATA certified and had our recurrent every year...When the company started pulling back the freighters we went out and picked up the CO & NW cargo contracts, never once did we have to show we were haz certified or even provide training.