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Dangerous goods shipping calls for careful and thorough assessing before they set sail. Read on to find out the requirements for dangerous goods shipping, as well as how your company can avoid demurrage and detention fees with Zima Kara & Deniz Shipping & International Transportation Co. LTD
The ship X-Press Pearl’s fallout in Sri Lanka in 2021 shows how important it is to ship hazardous goods safely. The ship was carrying tonnes of nitric acid and oil which caused a pollution crisis in Sri Lanka when the ship sunk.
This disaster and many others like it remind us of the importance of safety in handling hazardous goods. The shipping of hazardous goods is highly specialized and filled with regulations. It requires correct documents, trained people as well as specialized containers.
Dangerous goods are substances or items that pose a risk to safety, health, environment, or property while shipping. It’s crucial that they’re handled with utmost care right from the beginning to the end of the shipping process.
Dangerous goods can be in solid, liquid, or gaseous forms. They can be corrosive materials as well as items of daily use like perfumes. Many dangerous goods are transported in a tank container. It provides safety in transportation and also helps in bulk transportation since tank containers are stackable.
Let’s now look at the different classes of dangerous goods for a better understanding of how they’re transported.
The UN Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods classifies dangerous goods into 9 classes based on the risk they pose.
As the name suggests, explosives are materials that can rapidly conflagrate or detonate as a consequence of a chemical reaction. These are further divided into six sub-classes.
Some examples include explosives such as fireworks, flares, and gunpowder.
This class includes gases that pose a risk to the safety of humans or the environment. Gasses can be compressed, liquified, dissolved, refrigerated, or a mixture of two or more gasses. This class is also divided into three sub-sections.
Examples of gasses are helium, oxygen, chlorine, etc.
A flammable liquid is a liquid, a mixture of liquids, or a liquid containing solids that has a very low ignition temperature. This means that these liquids ignite easily. They are very dangerous to transport as they are extremely volatile and combustible. Examples are kerosene, acetone, gas oil, etc.
Just like flammable liquids, there are flammable solids that are easily combustible. Flammable solids are further divided into three sub-categories.
Some examples include metal powders, sodium batteries, activated carbon, etc.
This class includes oxidizing agents and organic peroxides. These goods are extremely reactive because of their high oxygen content. They can combust easily. Examples are lead nitrate and hydrogen peroxide.
As the name suggests, toxic substances pose a threat to humans if swallowed, inhaled, or through skin contact. Similarly, infectious substances can cause disease in humans or animals. Some examples include medical waste, dyes, biological cultures, etc.
These substances need no introduction. They’re extremely dangerous if they become unstable. These materials can pose a serious threat to humans and the environment. Examples are medical isotopes and yellowcake.
Corrosive materials degrade or disintegrate other materials upon contact. They’re highly reactive and produce a positive chemical effect. Some examples are batteries, chlorides, and paints.
This category includes all the other materials that are dangerous but are not part of the above classes. For example, dry ice, marine pollutants, motor engines, etc.
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Here are the packaging requirements you need to keep in mind while shipping dangerous goods.
Apart from this, you also need proper documents for dangerous goods shipping.
Material safety data sheet (MSDS) contains information about the potential hazards and how to work safely with the dangerous good during transportation.
A Dangerous goods declaration (DGD) states the category of dangerous goods. It also includes the identification marks, states the special packaging, and the labels.
The main purpose of dangerous goods manifest (DGM) is to provide all important information about the dangerous good in a single document.
A TREM card contains instructions about the transportation of the dangerous good. The workers dealing with hazardous goods carry this card.
This document highlights the container’s identification number and certifies that the packing of dangerous goods is according to the following instructions.
Now that you are aware of the essential document requirements, let’s take a quick look at a step-wise guide to ship dangerous goods.
Here’s a 6-step guide for safely transporting dangerous goods.
Know your regulations
It’s very important that you know and follow the regulations correctly while transporting dangerous goods. Regulations can depend on the type of dangerous goods your company is shipping. This can include regulations for documents, packing, marking, and labelling of the goods.
Anybody dealing with the shipping of hazardous goods needs to have proper training. This is to ensure that they’re capable of handling dangerous goods safely. You can even hire a professional company or person to prepare the shipment on your company’s behalf.
The consignor or shipper is responsible for classifying and marking the dangerous goods correctly. This ensures that people handling the cargo are aware of the dangerous goods.
Packing dangerous goods correctly is essential for safe transportation. Your company should avoid container stuffing and in most cases, you’ll also need special materials like tape, zip ties, and poly bags to safely pack the dangerous goods. You also require the United Nations specification markings on containers.
Just as you pack your shipment correctly, your company should also use the correct label on hazardous goods. Make sure to remove old labels on reused boxes. Moreover, maintain all the important documents.
Dangerous goods require a special container and can’t be transported in a regular container. You can choose ISO tank containers or choose between different intermodal tank types. To buy or lease containers, simply go to Zima Kara & Deniz Shipping & International Transportation Co. LTD and search for the type of container you want for your company.
By now you’ve understood that dangerous goods shipping requires special transportation and handling services. This means that extra charges will be added to your shipping costs apart from the common container charges. Some of these charges are port storage charges and D&D charges.
If you’ve been in the shipping industry for a long time now, you are aware that demurrage and detention charges can really add up. To get an in-depth overview of and industry insights about D&D charges across 60 ports and 8 shipping, you can take a look at our Demurrage & Detention: Annual Benchmark 2022 report for free.
If you’re not aware of D&D, let’s start from the basics by understanding what COCs containers are.
While both these terms sound similar, there is a minor difference between the two.
Most of the time the factors that lead to delays are not in your company’s hands. But what you can do instead is choose the right container. The best solution to avoid paying D&D is simply choosing a SOC container. The shippers own these containers.
You can use SOCs for one-way transport and return them to your partner’s depot at the port of destination. Most of the time you don’t even have to pay any per diem charges. This is because this agreement benefits the shippers as well. It allows them to relocate their containers for free. It’s a win-win situation.
welcome to Zima Kara & Deniz Shipping & International Transportation Co. LTD a one stop solution for all your logistic needs. We take pride to introduce ourselves as a leading service provider in the country, providing logistical solutions designed to meet the diverse needs of today’s demanding business environment.