IMDG: sea 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 Sea Freight (IMDG-IMO). Set the Consignment date and pick the Shipper. Click Next.
3. In IMDG-IMO Data, complete the particulars of the sea carriage and the shipper's signature. 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 avoids using a predefined product.
6. Click the selection button of Dangerous Good, search by UN number or by name and choose a substance allowed under IMDG, as the matching column of the finder shows.
7. Complete the packaging, the homologation, the number of packages, the quantity per package and the gross weight. State whether it is a marine pollutant, because the mark and the wording on the form depend on it.
8. Click ADD and repeat for each substance.
9. The goods tab is the last one for sea transport: when you are done, click Finish to issue the documents.

Segregation between the substances you added is checked by the application itself, and it warns you if two of them cannot travel together.

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.

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. Under IMDG this is not a minor detail: it is what feeds the compatibility check between the goods of one consignment.
5. In Mode of Transport, enable the product for IMDG. A product not enabled for IMDG will not appear when you prepare a consignment in this mode.

Use it in a consignment

6. Create the consignment 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, tick Save Product To Database before pressing ADD: the substance is stored as your own product for next time.

When two or more dangerous goods travel inside the same outer packaging, they are not declared as separate packages: they are declared as a mixed packing. The overpack, which groups packages that are already closed, exists in the air wizard; outside air transport this is the figure you use.

Create the mixed packing

1. In Consignee and Goods, answer Yes to Is Mixed packing?.
2. The product field changes: it now offers to select a mixed packing that is already defined, or to create one on the spot with the create-and-select button.
3. When you create it, its own wizard opens. In Product Features give it a name and define the outer packaging; in the contents, add the goods that go inside with their quantity; in Mode of Transport, enable it for the mode of this consignment.
4. On returning, the mixed packing is selected as if it were a product.

Add it to the consignment

5. Enter the number of packages, that is, how many identical outer packagings you are shipping.
6. Click ADD.

In the consignment table the mixed packing appears as one line, and when the documents are issued every substance it contains is detailed, which is what the regulations require. The compatibility check between the substances you put inside is made by the application when you define it.

The multimodal dangerous goods form is the document that travels with the sea consignment. DGAssistant issues it by two routes.

a) From the list toolbar

1. Open Consignments and List of Consignments (Transport Documents).
2. Tick the box of the consignment in the first column.
3. Click Transport Document on the toolbar above.

b) When you finish the wizard

1. For sea transport the last tab is Consignee and Goods, the same one where you added the goods.
2. Below the table are the document checkboxes. Tick Show IMO-IMDG Dangerous Goods Declaration, or Show IMDG Multimodal Dangerous Goods Form if you need the multimodal form.
3. Show Blue Stripes prints the blue hatching along the border. Tick it if you print on plain paper and untick it with pre-printed stationery.
4. Click Finish.

If the consignment carries marine pollutants or class 1 goods, the document includes the wording the Code requires, and the container packing certificate is issued with the rest when it applies.

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 transport document.

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. Go to the last tab, Consignee and Goods.
2. Tick Show Load Checklist.
3. Ticking it enables the Language drop-down. 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 transport document.

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 transport it also covers the placarding of the transport unit.

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. Go to the last tab, Consignee and Goods.
2. Tick Show Package Marking.
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 labels a consignment of many identical packages needs.
4. Click Finish.

If any substance is a marine pollutant or carries a limited quantity mark, the matching mark comes out with the rest.

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. Go to the last tab, Consignee and Goods.
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.
5. Click Finish.

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