New IATA Regulations for 2016
With the new year comes new IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations for 2016, 57th Edition.
Two major changes will have considerable impact on shipping Lithium batteries –
ITECH would like to advise our customers of upcoming changes in Lithium-ion Battery Transportation regulations which may affect the packaging requirement for your battery shipments, the way you maintain inventory of the battery packs received from iTECH, and how you ship the batteries to your customers.
Background:
At the 25th meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Dangerous Goods Panel (DGP) held on 19-30 October 2015 in Montreal, several proposals were discussed to address the safety concerns associated with the transport of Lithium batteries as air cargo. The results of this meeting produced several recommendations that will affect the way cells and batteries will be transported. These recommendations have been adopted by IATA and will impact how iTECH offers battery packs for transport.
The significant changes that will go into effect on 1 April 2016 include the maximum state of charge (SoC) of the cells rated capacity as it is offered for transport and changes to the packaging of products shipped via PI 965 Section II requirements.
Restriction of the cell’s and battery’s State of Charge (SoC) not to exceed 30%.
One of the amendments going into effect on 1 April 2016 to the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations 2016 57th edition will be the restriction of cells and batteries under UN3480, PI 965 offered for transport to be at a not-to-exceed 30% SoC of the cells rated design capacity.
iTECH has already been notified by some cell manufacturers that by April, cells shipped from the manufacturing facility will be at 30% maximum SoC. iTECH will continue working with all our cell suppliers to determine when iTECH will begin to receive cells limited to 30% SoC, but also to determine for each cell model, their allowed minimum SoC. This may impact the time the cell must be charged to prevent under voltage damage due to self-discharge.
Restriction of cells and batteries packaged per UN3480, PI 965, Section II, in addition to the not to exceed 30% SoC rule above, will be limited to one package per overpack per consignment.
Lithium Metal Cells and Batteries under UN3090, PI 968, Section II will also be limited to one package per overpack per consignment.
As you may recall, late in 2012 IATA announced the change to Section II packaging to limit small cells (<20Whr or .3g Li) to a maximum of 8 per package or batteries (<100Whr or 3g Li) maximum 2 per package, but did not restrict the number of packages contained within an overpack. The benefit of this allowed bulk air shipment of batteries without the class 9 declaration. iTECH worked with customers interested in maintaining the ability to offer for transport under Section II, new packaging that met the new regulation. The new amendment will limit the Section II package to one per overpack.
The result of this packaging amendment will impact how iTECH ships battery packs to you and may impact how you offer for transport, battery packs to your customers. Impacts will include method of packaging, labeling, marking and declarations as well as transport costs.
iTECH will follow up by contacting customers affected by this change to discuss the impact of these regulations.
About iTECH
iTECH has been operating as an independent privately-held company since 1997, serving Fortune 500 companies as a manufacturer of market-leading portable power solutions to performance-critical industries. iTECH excels in providing innovative design and manufacture of smart lithium-ion batteries, chargers, docking stations and power sub-systems for performance critical applications in the handheld electronics, medical, intrinsic safety, industrial and communications markets. iTECH is ISO 9001:2008, ISO 13485:2003 certified and FDA Registered. For more information, please visit the iTECH website at www.itecheng.com.
About Universal Power Group, Inc.
Universal Power Group, Inc. is a leading supplier of batteries, power accessories, wire and cable products, and a provider of supply chain and other value-added services. UPG’s product offerings include proprietary brands of industrial and consumer batteries of all chemistries, chargers, jumpstarters, 12-volt accessories, security and low voltage wire and cable products. UPG’s supply chain services include procurement, warehousing, inventory management, distribution, fulfillment and value-added services such as battery replacement programs. UPG is ISO 9001:2008 certified. For more information, please visit the UPG website at www.upgi.com.
Company Contacts:
Andrew Yurman
Sales Manager
(858) 458-1500 ext. 2325
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