I always used to just fill the shipper w/ LN2, and declare it Dangerous
Goods. Never any trouble, save one time in Birmingham (AL), the FedEx
person at the office intentionally tipped shipper 90 degrees, even
though it was marked DG, Keep Upright, etc. !! Naturally, they got
scared by all the "steam" and hissing! I went down the the FedEx office,
and easily convinced them not to tip it (after all, it was marked DG!),
and all was then OK.
I guess the goal of "dry" shipping is to save the DG costs. On this I
cannot comment, other than one potentially good, but ruined crystal to
me is worth more than DG shipping costs (which, as I recall, only add
~$100-200).
Dave
David Borhani, Ph.D.
D. E. Shaw Research, LLC
120 West Forty-Fifth Street, 39th Floor
New York, NY 10036
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
212-478-0698
http://www.deshawresearch.com <http://www.deshawresearch.com/>
________________________________
From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Green, Todd
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 11:13 AM
To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Dry shippers
I'm interested to hear responses on this as well. We have
shipped back and forth crystals a 100 times and never had a problem
until our last trip to the synchrotron. The person at fed ex knocked our
shipper onto it's side in order to verify the measurements. The fact
that they did it with a big plunk is beside the point given that it has
fragile and delicate instruments stickers covering the outside. Anyway,
it hissed and a plume of cold air was observed and they refused to
accept it. I always do as Stephan has described, however I did return
about 100 crystals in caps full of LN2 to the dewar. I believe over time
the LN2 in the caps will boil off(maybe the wrong term). Anyway, i
brought it back to the lab and kept gently tilting the case until i
didn't hear the hissing or see the eflux of cold air and took it back.
We called fed ex and got conflicting answers on shipping. The person
that refused to ship it wouldn't concede that it was a dry shipper
without LN2 and told us we had to fill out hazard forms. The number they
gave me to call for aide in filling out this paperwork had a nice lady
that knew what a dry shipper was. I explained our procedure. She said to
put a sign on the outside that said "Non-hazardous dry shipper". Then,
she said to take it back out and tell them to call her if they refused
it again. No problem the second time around. I guess it is my fault in
the end because there was residual LN2 from the caps, but I thought it
would discepate and was negligible. Maybe if i'd waited an hour or so
later it'd have been no problem. Who knows? It was a horrible experience
flying out the same day as shipping for fear of another problem. I
basically had to white knuckle it until they arrived.
-----Original Message-----
From: CCP4 bulletin board on behalf of Stephan Ginell
Sent: Tue 8/26/2008 12:13 AM
To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Dry shippers
Hi Peter,
At APS/SBC sector 19 all shipping dewars are turned upside down
until all
LN2 drains out, this is repeated 2-3x times to remove the
residual caught in
the top. With this method there is no free LN2 remaining in the
dewars to
leak out. During the upside down tipping the dewars must not be
bumped. The
ANL shipping Department has been instructed to verify that the
dewars are
empty of LN2 by turning them upside down prior to shipping.
When pucks are not used we caution all users to place vials
securely in the
dewars using canes with tabs or placing the bottom of one
against the top of
another and using plastic sleeves, to prevent the pins from
being dislodged
from the vials.
Steve Ginell
****************************************************
Stephan L. Ginell, Ph.D.
Coordinator, SBC User Program
Biosciences
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 S. Cass Ave
Argonne, IL 60439
(630)252-3972 office
(630)218-8122 pager
(630)252-6126 Fax
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Email
On 8/25/08 6:41 PM, "Peter Zwart" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> Due to the presence of residual liquid nitrogen in dry
shippers
> 'steaming' out of a tipped-over dewar on a Fedex dock, we
(PX-ers in
> the ALS) have been placed under some scrutiny with regards to
> dry-shipping dewars. In particular, I am interested in how
people
> empty their dewars/pucks/vials and prepare them for
dry-shipment and
> how they and/or their shipping department checks if the dewars
are
> empty indeed.
>
> Cheers
>
> Peter Zwart
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