IATA: air transport

A simple consignment is the one you prepare by taking the goods straight from the list of dangerous goods, without having created your own product first. It is the quickest route when you ship something that does not repeat.

1. In the left menu open Consignments and click New of Products.
2. In General Data, choose the workplace, the Consignment Type (Packages and Receptacles) and the Mode of Transport Air Freight (IATA). Set the Consignment date and pick the Shipper with the selection button beside the field. Click Next.
3. In IATA Data, enter the air waybill number and the airports of departure and destination if you know them, and fill in the signature block: Name of Signatory and Date are required. Click Next.
4. In Consignee and Goods, select the Consignee and answer Is Mixed packing?. If every substance travels in its own outer packaging, answer No.
5. In Database To Use choose General Database of Dangerous Goods. This is the step that sets this guide apart: no predefined product is used.
6. Click the selection button of Dangerous Good. The finder opens; type the UN number or part of the name and click the magnifier. The list shows, with one icon per column, whether the substance is allowed under IATA, IMDG and ADR: choose one allowed under IATA.
7. Complete the presentation: type of packaging, homologation, number of packages, quantity per package and gross weight. If the substance requires it, enter the technical name.
8. Click ADD. The goods appear in the table below. Repeat from step 6 for each different substance.
9. Click Next to move to Overpack and finish the consignment.

If you forget to press ADD, the goods are not included: the screen itself warns you next to the button.

A predefined product stores once the classification, the packaging and the modes of transport of a substance you repeat. From then on, each consignment is prepared by picking it by name or code, without deciding anything again.

Create the product

1. In the left menu open Products and create a new one.
2. In Product Features, enter the Name and the Code your company recognises, and attach the dangerous good from the finder. Complete the physical state, the measure unit and whether it is pure, a mixture or a solution.
3. If the substance is class 7, the radiological tab asks for the radionuclides and the activity.
4. In Segregation Information, review the groups that apply to it.
5. In Mode of Transport, enable the product for IATA. This is where you decide under which regulations it may be used: a product not enabled for IATA will not appear when you prepare an air consignment.

Use it in a consignment

6. Create the consignment as usual until you reach Consignee and Goods.
7. In Database To Use leave Database of Own Products, which is the default.
8. Click the selection button of Product and choose it by name, code or reference. The classification, the labels and the technical name already come from the product.
9. Enter the number of packages and the quantities, and click ADD.

The shortcut

If you are preparing a consignment and realise the substance is going to repeat, there is no need to leave: tick Save Product To Database before pressing ADD and the substance is stored as your own product for next time.

An overpack groups several packages that are already prepared into a single handling unit. In DGAssistant it is created on the last tab of the air consignment wizard, once the goods are already inside.

1. Prepare the consignment and add every substance in Consignee and Goods. Click Next.
2. On the Overpack tab, answer Yes to Use overpacks?.
3. Enter the Overpack Identifier, which is the name it will carry on the marking, and set the Number of Overpacks if you are preparing several identical ones.
4. Click Create Overpack.
5. The overpack you created is now chosen in Selected Overpack. Below it you have two lists: Goods of Consignment Without Overpack on the left, and Goods included in the Selected Overpack.
6. Tick in the first list the packages that go inside and click Include goods in the Selected Overpack. They move to the second list.
7. Repeat from step 3 if you need more than one overpack: create each, select it and put its packages in.

To undo, select the overpack and use Exclude goods from the Selected Overpack to take packages out, or Delete Overpack to remove it entirely; the goods return to the list of those without an overpack.

What the application does next is what the regulations require: the declaration reports the contents of each overpack, and the marking prints the overpack mark with its identifier, in addition to the mark of every package inside.

The Shipper's Declaration is the document that travels with the air consignment. DGAssistant issues it by two routes, and it is worth knowing both because they are used at different moments.

a) From the list toolbar

Use this for a consignment that is already finished, when it has to be reprinted or sent again.

1. Open Consignments and List of Consignments (Transport Documents).
2. Tick the box of the consignment in the first column of the table.
3. Click Transport Document on the toolbar above. The report opens and you can print it or save it as a PDF.

b) When you finish the wizard

Use this when you have just created the consignment and want the document without going through the list.

1. Walk the wizard to the last tab, which for air transport is Overpack.
2. There you will see the checkboxes of the documents issued on closing. Leave Show IATA Dangerous Goods Declaration ticked. If the consignment is multimodal with road, the checkbox that appears is Show IATA Multimodal Dangerous Goods Declaration.
3. Show Red Stripes prints the red hatching along the border of the form. Tick it if your carrier requires it on plain paper, and untick it if you use pre-printed stationery.
4. Click Finish. The declaration opens together with any other documents you left ticked.

Both routes produce the same document. The second is more convenient because it issues the declaration, the checklist and the marking in one go.

The load checklist walks through what has to be verified before the consignment is handed over. It is issued by the same two routes as the declaration.

a) From the list toolbar

1. Open Consignments and List of Consignments (Transport Documents).
2. Tick the box of the consignment.
3. Click Checklist on the toolbar.

b) When you finish the wizard

1. Reach the last tab of the wizard, Overpack for air transport.
2. Tick Show Load Checklist.
3. Ticking it enables the Language drop-down to its right. This matters: the checklist is filled in by whoever loads, who does not always speak the language of the shipper. The application proposes the language of the workplace country, and you may change it.
4. Click Finish.

The language of the checklist is independent of the language of the declaration, which goes in the one the air regulations require.

The package marking gathers, at page size, the marks and labels that have to be applied to every package: UN number, proper shipping name, hazard labels and any mark the substance requires. On road consignments it also covers the placarding of the vehicle.

a) From the list toolbar

1. Open Consignments and List of Consignments (Transport Documents).
2. Tick the box of the consignment.
3. Open Other Actions on the toolbar and choose Show Package Marking.

b) When you finish the wizard

1. Reach the last tab of the wizard, Overpack for air transport.
2. Leave Show Package Marking ticked; it comes ticked by default.
3. Beside it you have Show Marks For All Packages. Left unticked, one mark is printed for each different substance; ticked, one is printed for every package, which is what whoever physically labels a consignment of many identical packages needs.
4. Click Finish.

If the consignment carries overpacks, the marking also includes the overpack mark with its identifier.

The small labels are the same marking, but laid out to the size of your printer's label roll instead of to a full page. This is what you use when labelling with a thermal printer.

a) From the list toolbar

1. Open Consignments and List of Consignments (Transport Documents).
2. Tick the box of the consignment.
3. Open Other Actions and choose Show Package Marking (Small custom size).

b) When you finish the wizard

1. Reach the last tab of the wizard, Overpack for air transport.
2. Tick Show Package Marking (Small custom size).
3. Ticking it reveals Width (mm) and Height (mm). Enter the real measurements of your label; whether the mark comes out complete and legible depends on them.
4. You also have Show Marks For All Packages, with the same effect as on the page-size marking: one label per package instead of one per substance.
5. Click Finish.

Keep the measurements that work with your printer: they are the same for all your consignments.