Ban on the air freight of bulk shipments of lithium based batteries

[_Andrew_]

There is growing pressure to bring in a total ban on the air freight bulk shipment of lithium baced batteries. Currently the ban only prohibits bulk shipments being carried on passenger aircraft but it may well be extended to include cargo aircraft as well.

There was a vote last year where a total ban was not implementedand a call for better packaging to better resist, contain the the hazards that can arise if a cell or cells develop a fault.
Manufacturers have also argued that the problems were only limited to a few unscrupulous manufacturers and suppliers.
There is also the problem of suppliers falsely declaring cargo as no hazardous. An apparent incident with a 6 tonne palette of mobile phones with no batteries started to smoke while it was sat out on the tarmac just before it was to be loaded. When it was investigated it was found to be a 6 tonne bulk shipment of just lithium ion cells.

So it is now in the hands of the ICAO to make the decision on this.

If a full ban is introduced then this will have an impact with the lead times and in the itrumin period could have an immediate impact on production of products reliant on lithium batteries if manufacturers do not have enough inventory to ride out the extended lead times then production lines may be held up. Also the possibility of what effects this may have on shipping there finished products. 

So if any of you are reliant on regular supplies of lithium batteries that are being shipped via airfreight you may want to keep a close watch on what the ICAO's decision may be and how much inventory you may need to hold to be able to ride out extended lead times.

[JoeN]

Put em on the boat.

[matseng]

Put em on the boat.

Shipping time of a container between the ports of Hong-Kong and Los Angeles is 16 days.  Replacing Hong-Kong with Xiamen and you'll shave off 3 days time.  And it's dirt cheap compared to hauling tonnes of goods by air.

So I don't think a ban for air shipments of batteries will make a huge problem for those who bulk-ship batteries in industrial quantities.  It's more inconvenient for us that just wants to get a few dozens of packs cheaply from taobao or ali....

[RGB255_0_0]

Amazon just got fined for this. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37454587

£65,000 is pocket change though.

[rrinker]

 Considering the quantities involved...

6 tonnes of what was declared to be phones with no batteries turning out to be 6 tonnes of nothing BUT batteries, that's pretty bad. One or two li-ion batteries going off can almost surely be suppressed with the existing fire protection system, but 6 tonnes of them going off - that would be a rather large kaboom.

[Neilm]

As a manufacturer, I can quite happily send my product with its Li-battery on a plane. However, I can't send that same battery as a spare without discharging it. We don't make millions of any of our products - barely thousands and they go all over the world.

So if you want a spare battery for my equipment in Aus and they have put this ban in - I hope you don't need it in the next couple of months.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Let's hope whoever makes the regs isn't stupid enough to include harmless lithium coin cells

[ez24]

Let's hope whoever makes the regs isn't stupid enough to include harmless lithium coin cells

Why not  E=mc^2       so a coin cell could knock out any plane  - anyone done the calcs?

[Gyro]

Hmmm, of course having the battery installed in the equipment doesn't necessarily reduce the danger. Looks like the Samsung Note 2 isn't immune from problems. From 4 hours ago:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37454436

[Neilm]

Let's hope whoever makes the regs isn't stupid enough to include harmless lithium coin cells

Too late - there are air freight carriers that refuse to carry coin cells.