If it is dry (charged with LN2 but empty of free liquid) you can ship it as non-Dangerous goods. The key words for FedEx (or any air shipping agent) are
"Non-Restricted"
Non-hazardous, non-toxic, and non-flammable are assumed as you are shipping it non-hazardous. It is useful to have on the shipper just in case. Charge it several times then before shipping empty the nitrogen out, i.e. follow the instructions from the manufacturer.
A tip from our friendly FedEx office. Write "contains samples" on the lid of the Dewar (inside the outer shipping box). FedEx see crystals infrequently but ship many of these Dewars containing medical and agricultural specimens. They are less likely to open the Dewar and take a peak.
If it ships wet you do have to declare it as Dangerous Goods. If you do not, and liquid is found in it, there are steep fines and other unpleasant things. In the US it is possible to ship it wet by air but you need to be registered with FedEx which involves attending a training course and having a 24 hour telephone contact available. You can also ship wet by ground. This also involves registration and an online training course. I'm not sure what the rules are for other countries.
Take these with a pinch of salt. I looked into this a couple of years ago and did the online course. If you talk to FedEx again, mention Dry Shipper and Non-Restricted. They should fairly quickly know what you are talking about. I've found them very helpful.
Cheers,
Eddie
Edward Snell Ph.D.
Assistant Prof. Department of Structural Biology, SUNY Buffalo,
Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute
700 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, NY 14203-1102
Phone: (716) 898 8631 Fax: (716) 898 8660
Email: [log in to unmask] Telepathy: 42.2 GHz
Heisenberg was probably here!
________________________________________
From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Aleksander Roszak
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 11:01 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ccp4bb] Fwd: [ccp4bb] dry shipper & FedEx
Hi Uli,
When we send our dry shipper from UK to ESRF, Grenoble, via FedEx we place a following note on the box:
DRY SHIPPER, Non-hazardous, non-toxic, non-flammable, non-restricted. Conforms with the IATA regulations Special Provision A800
We write the same in the Contents place of the International Air Waybill, we do not have to fill any special declaration for dangerous goods.
And this works fine for us.
I hope it will work for you too.
Cheers,
Aleks
On 2 Feb 2009, at 15:32, gohlke, ulrich wrote:
Dear colleagues,
I am having the pleasure to organise a shipment of frozen crystals from Germany to the UK, and the only way to do this seems to send them by FedEx in a dry shipper (Taylor & Wharton CP100). My question is, has anybody (perhaps from Germany?) done this before and give me some advice? According to the people at FedEx, I need somebody who is trained and authorized to fill in and sign a "Shipper's Declaration for Dangerous Goods". This concerns mainly the transport of nitrogen (the crystals are harmless). Does anybody know, for instance, what the UN-No. for nitrogen in a dry shipper is? Is it the same for liquid N2 (UN 1977) and the adsorbed (vapour phase) form?
Thanks in advance and best regards,
Uli
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DR ULRICH GOHLKE
Staff Scientist - Macromolecular Structure and Interaction
Max-Delbrück-Centre for Molecular Medicine (MDC)
+49 30 9406 - 2725 (w)
+49 30 9406 - 2548 (fax)
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http://www.mdc-berlin.de/en/research/research_teams/macromolecular_structure_and_interaction/
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Aleksander W. Roszak, PhD E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Protein Crystallography Web: www.chem.gla.ac.uk/~aleks
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