Can't fly batteries any more?

[mradovan]

Just been turned down by Raru - apparently the new rule of air freight - can't fly lithium batteries, or any device containing lithium batteries... this has got to have a major impact on cellular market in SA

 

[reactor_sa]

Been like this with DHL, FedEx, UPS, etc for years already. It used to be that you could still airfreight batteries within a device but this seems to be changing now too.

 

[mradovan]

Been like this with DHL, FedEx, UPS, etc for years already. It used to be that you could still airfreight batteries within a device but this seems to be changing now too.

Wow, first time that I hear about that... I fail to see the difference in safety risk between a cellphone in my pocket in the cabin, and the one bubblewrapped in the hold... there again, those guys are not exactly famous for their logic...

 

[Skalabala]

Endless-sphere.com • View topic - Lithium Batteries Shipping Rules Discussions

 

[Harmonic]

Wow, first time that I hear about that... I fail to see the difference in safety risk between a cellphone in my pocket in the cabin, and the one bubblewrapped in the hold... there again, those guys are not exactly famous for their logic...

I'm probably speaking straight out of my arse but I think the cargo hold isn't pressurized like the cabin is. I don't know if it has an effect on the batteries but was the first thing that came to mind.

 

[vno-too]

It's not the pressure issue, methinks, but the unheated scenario, cargo hold can go to freezing & below, this is presumabky what took out the SAA Helderberg with some nasty substances in the cargo that were submerged in water & reasonably safe that way, but presumably the water froze, broke the container and then things went south pretty rapidly... spoke to a chap at the antarctic yesterday morning he was quoting -46degC down there at that stage, I suspect the cargo hold of your average passenger/cargo plane won't go down quite that much, though, but I'd imagine -10degC or even less isn't out of the question.

 

[mradovan]

I'm probably speaking straight out of my arse but I think the cargo hold isn't pressurized like the cabin is. I don't know if it has an effect on the batteries but was the first thing that came to mind.

Me too
But I know there is a pressurised hold in nearly every plane, where they keep pets in transit - they can put the batteries there, if there is an issue with the pressure. Also, I seem to remember those DHL freight planes in documentaries, all the things are right behind the pilot and it's all pressurised...

 

[Ho3n3r]

Probably due to flights like these:

UPS Airlines Flight 6 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also, it's obviously a lot different having a pack of batteries close together in the cargo where there are electronic cables and stuff close by which can cause heat when something goes wrong, as opposed to one cell phone battery in your pocket with only human body temperature.

EDIT: There are probably some special flights with major precautions taken to transport these. And I don't foresee any retailers/wholesalers in SA going that far to get a product to you.

Can't they do road freight though?

 

[Jaco101]

I shipped a camera the other day and they made me remove the battery. So it's in place now. A couple of years ago I bought a laptop on ebay and they shipped it with the battery and all so this change is recent.