Dangerous Goods in a Data Centre Shipment

Most data centre consignments contain dangerous goods without anybody planning for it. Lithium-ion battery backup units inside the rack, UPS modules, and in liquid-cooled builds the coolant itself, are all restricted under the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations. Whether the battery is installed in equipment, packed with it, or shipped loose changes the packing instruction and the paperwork.

The consignment needs a shipper's declaration for dangerous goods, prepared and signed by trained personnel. Packing has to meet the applicable packing instruction, with UN-specification packaging and correct marking and labelling. State and operator variations apply, which means the same consignment can be acceptable on one carrier and not on another, and some routes are closed to it entirely.

It is not the cost, it is the aircraft. A dangerous goods consignment cannot simply be rolled onto the next available flight, and passenger-aircraft restrictions remove a great deal of capacity on some lanes. A delivery window built on a passenger-belly schedule can become undeliverable the moment a battery is declared – which is a freight problem discovered by a compliance question.

Ask the vendor for battery and coolant datasheets at the same time you ask for the bill of materials. Declare state of charge and configuration early. Where the deployment allows, ship batteries separately from the racks, on the packing instruction that suits them, and reunite them on site. Booked in that order, dangerous goods costs a day of preparation. Discovered at the airport, it costs the window.