In an action which is assuredly no April Fool’s jest, United Parcel Service (UPS) today announced new restrictions on and requirements for the transport of Lithium Metal Batteries. Effective July 1st, 2015, shipments of UN3090 Lithium Metal Batteries via UPS Airlines must receive pre-approval from UPS prior to shipment. The announcement indicates that this will apply even to small quantities of batteries. Among other stipulations, the new rules will require verification of (shipper) employee training and significant information about the batteries themselves, including their UN 38.3 test report, as well as the packaging in which they will be shipped. Taken in all, this is a significant change to current procedures. At press time it is unknown if other such carriers will follow suit; as an industry leader, UPS sets an example and the potential for other carriers to enact similar rules seems within the realm of reasonable speculation.
Here is a link to the relevant section on the UPS website:
Labelmaster is a full service provider of goods and services for the Hazardous Materials and Dangerous Goods professional, shippers, transport operators, and EH&S providers. See our full line of solutions at www.labelmaster.com.
