Category: Dangerous Cargo

Face wipes

There are plenty of brands in market with face wipes (wet wipes); some for oily skin some for moisturizing etc. In this article we will look at two of these products and their transport classification as per IMDG Code.

  1. Clearasil Daily Care Deep Cleansing Wipes &

Both are cleansing wet wipes but one of this needs to be transported as dangerous goods if consigned as cargo by sea.

To understand the difference we will look at the ingredients of each of these products

1. Clearasil Daily Care Deep Cleansing Wipes
2. Clearasil Ultra Deep Pore Face Wipes
Ingredients Water, Propylne Glycol. Polysorbate 20, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil. Malic Acid, Glycolic Acid, Lactic Acid, Pyrus Malus, Dichlorobenzyl Alcohol, Cetypyridinuim Chloride, Disodium EDTA, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Phenoxyethanol, Benzoic Acid, Dehydroacetic Acid. Hydrogen Peroxide, Ethanol, Salicylic Acid, and other inert ingredients.

Product 1 Clearasil Daily Care Deep Cleansing Wipes–

All the ingredients combined with the percentage does not have any properties of danger according to IMDG Code classification. This product does not have properties of explosives, flammable liquids or solids, oxidizing substances, toxicity, radioactivity or corrosive effect hence product one when offered as cargo by sea goes as non-hazardous.

Product 2 Clearasil Ultra Deep Pore Face Wipes–

The main ingredient is Ethanol which is a flammable liquid. The wipe has absorbed the liquid ethanol without any free flowing liquid visible. The product is solid and is readily flammable due to the presence of ethanol. Due to the flammability of the absorbed liquid this is classified under SOLIDS CONTAINING FLAMMABLE LIQUID, N.O.S. UN 3175, Packing Group II.

If we have above two products as cargo by Sea product 1 will go as non –hazardous and product 2 will go as hazardous with dangerous goods declaration, marking, labelling, placarding and other related provisions applicable.

Above details of ingredients and classification are taken from the manufacturer’s website which may be modified by the manufacturer. The writer does not promote any product for their usage or suggest advantage of one product over other but has only given an example that certain products which we use in daily life may be considered as dangerous goods as per transport regulations. To check applicability, limitations and or exemptions for each mode of transport responsible person shall refer the respective regulations.


Related articles

Expandable polymeric beads

Expandable polymeric beads or Expandable Polystyrene beads are moulding materials which come in the form of beads. The composition is polystyrene and a blowing agent which is  hydrocarbon . (blowing  agent is n-pentane, i-pentane and c-pentane).

Expandable polymeric beads containing blowing agent will expand when exposed to heat. These expandable polymeric beads are used for many applications like insulation, thermal packing, trays, toys, coffee cups food containers etc.

English: Structure of n-pentane Deutsch: Struk...

Hazards of Expandable Polymeric Beads

Fire! Fire is the hazard associated with this. Since this product contains hydrocarbon blowing agent (typically pentane) handling and storing of this product must take into consideration of any possible source of ignition. While stored Expandable polymeric beads will keep releasing a small amount of hydrocarbon vapors and the rate of release will increase when exposed to heat. Pentane vapors are heavier than air hence storage area must have good ventilation to remove any vapor trapped in low areas. Recommended storage is below 20 deg C in a well-ventilated area.

Shipping

Generally Expandable Polymeric Beads are transported in fibreboard boxes or flexible IBCs. IMDG Code list this under UN 2211 , POLYMERIC BEADS, EXPANDABLE , Class 9 with instruction for segregation as for Class 3 ( Flammable Liquids )*. IMDG Code 36th Amendment which will be published in 2012 may contain the requirement of hermetically sealed packaging and IBCs which meet certain performance standards when transported in Closed Cargo Transport unit as proposed by European Chemical Industry Council to IMO.

Some shipping lines may require additional warning label apart from Placards. This label should be placed on the door and may read “ WARNING : MAY CONTAIN EXPLOSIVE ATMOSPHERE, KEEP IGNITION SOURCES AWAY” or may even ask to ship it as one-door-off. However one-door-off operation will require additional approval for the said container as per CSC ( International Convention for Safe Containers) as one-door-off on normal containers will change allowable stacking load and transverse racking test force.

* Category E. Shaded from radiant heat and protected from sparks and open flame.  When stowed under-deck, mechanical ventilation shall be in accordance with SOLAS regulation II-2/19 (II-2/54) for flammable liquids with flashpoint below 23°C c.c. Segregation as for class 3 but “Separated from” class 1 except division 1.4S.

DG Reefer – Commercial Reasons

Certain Dangerous Goods require mandatory transport in reefer containers due to safety reasons. These are some of the Self-reactive Substances under Class 4.1 and some of the Organic Peroxides, Class 5.2. This requirement is listed in column 16 of DG List in chapter 3.2 and respective sub sections in chapter 2.4 & 2.5 of IMDG Code (35-10). 

Let us look at the provisions of other dangerous goods which do not require refrigerated containers but are offered sometimes as temperature controlled.DSCN3753

So what goods which do not require a reefer is sometimes transported in reefer? Generally these are Perfumes ( UN 1266), Safety Matches ( UN 1944), Paint (UN 1263), Lithium Batteries (UN 3090,3091,3480,3481). Some shippers transport these in live reefers to maintain the product quality. Of course Calcium Hypochlorite require live reefers by most of the shipping lines due to its bad past. 

IMDG Code has certain provisions for Dangerous Goods in reefers for commercial reasons, these are specifically related to Flammable Gases ( Class 2.1) and Flammable liquids ( Class 3). When Flammable liquids having flashpoint less than 23 °C c.c is transported in live reefer  then

1/ Substance shall be precooled and

2/ Transported at a temperature at east 10 Deg C below its flashpoint

Or explosion proof reefer is required.

At any moment during transport In case the reefer fails then  power supply shall be disconnected and must not be switched on again.

No line will accept flammable gas in live or non-live reefers.  ( For full details refer 7.7 of IMDG Code)

A container truck carrying reefer

UPS pilots ‘could not steer plane’

Jen Thomas

Dec 8, 2011 

DUBAI // The pilots of the UPS cargo plane that crashed in Dubai last year may have been unable to steer because a fire in the cargo area caused the control cables to slacken, an interim report says.

Smoke that filled the cockpit could also have prevented the two US pilots, both of whom died in the September 3 accident, from seeing the instruments.

An interim investigation report released by the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) last month also noted problems with the oxygen flow to the pilots’ masks may have been related to rising temperatures from the fire.

The GCAA report, the first since a preliminary report was released in April, offered new details about what went wrong aboard the Boeing 747, which crashed in the Nad Al Sheba military camp less than an hour after taking off from Dubai International Airport.

The pilots reported a fire 22 minutes into the flight and turned back towards Dubai, but overflew the airport. It crashed on the way to an emergency landing at Sharjah International Airport.

“The investigation has centred on a probably uncontained fire on the main cargo deck as the primary significant factor,” the interim report reads.

“The investigation is focusing on several possible ignition sources, primarily the location in the cargo of lithium and lithium-derivative batteries that were on board.”

The interim report used data from flight recorders, air-traffic control transcripts and a cockpit voice recorder. About 25 minutes into the flight, Capt Doug Lampe could be heard on the cockpit recorder saying he was not able to manually control the plane. The control cables ran above the probable location of the fire, the report said.

Although Capt Lampe’s controls were limited, First Officer Matthew Bell had almost no control of the plane, but the autopilot was working normally because it used a different control system. Both men struggled to breathe.

The report also notes at least two shipments of lithium-ion batteries, which should have been declared hazardous materials, were in containers “beneath the area of interest, due to systems indications on the flight recorders”.

The company sending those particular shipments was not identified in the report.

“While the shipper indicated that testing of the batteries was completed in accordance with [United Nations] standards, no UN test report was provided to verify that such tests were completed,” the report said.

Since 2006, 34 aviation incidents related to batteries and battery-powered devices have been reported to the US Federal Aviation Administration, and 22 of those involved lithium-ion batteries. Of 34 incidents, 22 involved fire.

The investigation continues “with further testing and detailed analysis currently ongoing”. Main testing should be completed this year, and a final report is due next year.

jthomas@thenational.ae

http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/ups-pilots-could-not-steer-plane

Dangerous Goods Declaration

Documentation

We all know that every consignment of dangerous goods, barring a few, needs a Dangerous Goods Declaration (DGD). This can be submitted as a printed or electronic copy.

If no declaration (DGD) is submitted carrier will reject the consignment or refuse to load.

Also some of us have experienced even after submitting document container failed to load or carrier returned the document due to missing or wrong information.

Internationally when port state authorities conducted random inspection on deficiencies in Dangerous Goods consignments a major percentage was wrong documentation. Missing or wrong DGD may lead to accidents, death, loss of property of damage to environment.

When we encounter any difficulty in preparing a DGD or when DGD is rejected or questioned for missing or ambiguous information we do think How to prepare a correct completed Dangerous Goods Declaration?

Then answer is simple “Be familiar and thorough in Chapter 5.4 of IMDG Code“

Since this Chapter 5.4 is linking to other sections of IMDG code and have some exceptions let’s not go into full details but learn the basic steps of preparing a DGD.

 Page Numbers

          If the DGD has more than one page then same must be numbered consecutively. Example page numbers for a 3 page DGD: 1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3.

The idea is if a one or more pages of a multipage DGD is missing above way of numbering will exactly inform the referrer which page is missing.

Shipper & Consignee

DGD must include the name and address of the shipper and consignee.

Date

Must have a date and this can be either the date of preparing the DGD or date on which DGD is given to the initial carrier.

Dangerous Goods part

Every item of dangerous goods under the respective shipment shall be mentioned here and the IMDG Code require this information to be in a particular sequence which is as below

  1. UN Number , preceded by letters UN
  2. Proper Shipping Name , and technical name in brackets if any
  3. Class
  4. Subsidiary hazardous class
  5. Packing Group

 This information shall always be in this sequence and never shall be re arranged when preparing the document.  Below are some examples of correctly sequenced dangerous information on DGD

 UN1098  ALLYL ALCOHOL 6.1 (3) I (21oC c.c.)

UN1098, ALLYL ALCOHOL, class 6.1, (class 3), PG I, (21oC c.c.)

UN 1092, Acrolein, stabilized, class 6.1 (3), PG I, (-24oC c.c.) MARINE POLLUTANT

UN 2761, Organochlorine pesticide, solid, toxic, (Aldrin 19%), class 6.1, PG III,  

               MARINE POLLUTANT

 Quantity of Dangerous Goods

We must declare the total number and type of packages and the quantity of dangerous goods. For Explosives the quantity is the net explosive weight, for other dangerous goods its volume or mass. Here I am not writing about shipments of radioactive substances which may require activity level also on documentation.

 Number and type of packages such as drums or jerricans can be written as say, 10 drums or ten drums.

 One shipment which does not require total quantity of dangerous goods to be written on DGD is empty uncleaned shipment.

 Limited Quantities

If the shipment offered is limited quantities then same must be mentioned on the DGD

 Excepted Quantities

If the shipment offered is excepted quantities then same must be mentioned on the DGD.

 Temperature controlled

Self-reactive substances and organic peroxide which require temperature control need to be mentioned with Control and Emergency Temperature this is applicable also to other substances if they are stabilized by means of temperature control.

 There are much more information required on DGD which is depending on the dangerous goods being offered for carriage by sea. Also some substances may require additional documentation such as a weathering certificate or exemption certificate.

Also other than tanks DG shipments need a packing Certificate also.

 Now let’s see what are the legally binding parts of documentation (DGD).

 Signature

Shipper and packer must sign the document, in an electronic form this can be replaced by NAME in capital letters.

 Declaration or Certification

 To certify that the shipment meets the applicable regulations below text shall be in the DGD

 “I hereby declare that the contents of this consignment are fully and accurately described above by the Proper Shipping Name, and are classified, packaged, marked and labelled/placarded, and are in all respects in proper condition for transport according to applicable international and national government regulations.”

 Format of DGD can be found here including continuation page and container packing certificate points.  The format of the form can be anyhow but the information required by Chapter 5.4 of IMDG Code must be there clear and legible.

Retention of DGD

Both Shipper and Carrier shall retain a copy of DGD and any other additional document as required by IMDG Code for a minimum period of 3 months.

 Above is the basic of preparing DGD for full details refer to chapter 5.4 and respective entry of UNNO in chapter 3.2 of IMDG Code (35-10) 

Additional Documents

For some dangerous goods together with Dangerous Goods Declaration IMDG Code require additional document(s).  They are

(1) Weathering Certificate

(2) a certificate exempting a substance, material or article from the provisions of the IMDG Code

(3) a statement by the competent authority of the country of origin of the approved classification and conditions of transport for a new self-reactive substances and organic peroxides or new formulation of currently assigned self-reactive substances and organic peroxides