On April 12th, 2014, The ICAO
Dangerous Goods Panel (DGP)
formally decided to prohibit the carriage
of lithium metal batteries as cargo on
passenger aircraft. This decision has still
to be formally ratified by the ICAO Air
Navigation Commission (ANC) and the
ICAO Council. That process is expected
to take place at the ANC in May and
Council in June.
Who will be affected?
As the prohibition rule will only apply
to such batteries when shipped 'by
themselves' it is unlikely to have a wide
effect to shippers on general as it is a
minority that ship batteries only.
However, it may affect:
n High-tech industries
n Retail industries
Lithium Facts
n The term
Lithium
battery refers
to a family
of batteries
with different
chemistries,
comprising
many types of cathodes and
electrolytes.
n Lithium metal batteries
are generally primary (nonrechargeable) batteries that
have lithium metal or lithium
compounds as an anode.
n Lithium-ion batteries (sometimes
abbreviated Li-ion batteries)
are a type of secondary
(rechargeable) battery commonly
used in consumer electronics.
The consequence of the decision is
that, unless the ANC or Council decide
otherwise, lithium metal batteries of all
types, when shipped by themselves, will
be forbidden on passenger aircraft as
cargo as of 1 January 2015. As such we
would expect only UN3090 for Lithium
Metal batteries which are classified as
Class 9 - Miscellaneous dangerous goods
to be affected but not shipment shipped
under UN3091 which is Lithium metal
batteries contained in equipment,
It is clear from the ICAO DGP Meeting that
this is just the first step in looking further
at the risk posed by shipments of lithium
batteries. Indeed long term it may well be
that Lithium metal batteries will not be
allowed on any aircraft, PAX or otherwise.