UN3077 vs UN3082: technical names and small-package checks for sea freight

A booking file can say “environmentally hazardous” and still leave the forwarder with three unanswered questions: is the product being shipped as a solid or a liquid, what belongs in the technical-name brackets, and does the proposed packaging meet the conditions being claimed? Those answers need to describe the same product and packing arrangement.

Start with the shipper's classification for the actual formulation. A product name, a photograph or an old booking confirmation is not enough to assign a UN number. This guide explains a document check; it does not classify a particular cargo.

Choose the entry before copying the description

Check whether a more appropriate entry or another hazard classification applies before using either general entry. Keep the product identifier and revision date together when comparing the safety data sheet, the shipper's classification and the booking description. If the papers disagree, return the discrepancy to the shipper instead of choosing whichever description is easier to book.

For a solid–liquid mixture, ask about free liquid

SP335 addresses mixtures of otherwise non-regulated solids and environmentally hazardous liquid assigned to UN3082. Its distinction depends on whether free liquid is visible at loading or when the packaging or cargo transport unit is closed. Read the full conditions before applying the UN3077 route; free liquid changes the decision.

“Absorbed” on a packing list does not answer that question. Ask what is present in the finished package, who checked it, and at what stage. A damp appearance alone is not a substitute for the shipper's assessment. SP335 also has a separate small sealed-packet/article provision; it is not the same test as the 5 kg / 5 L provision below.

Resolve the brackets before the documents are issued

SP274 requires a technical name to supplement the proper shipping name for documentation and package marking. For these two UN numbers it also permits a qualifying capital-letter DGL name under specified conditions. That option is conditional; it does not turn an arbitrary trade name into an acceptable technical name.

Leave a deliberate check point in the booking worksheet: “technical name confirmed by shipper”. Compare the agreed text across the draft transport document and package-marking instructions. A bracket that is empty in one file and filled differently in another should be resolved before either file is released. Do not copy the ingredient from a different grade of the same commercial product.

Check the unit, quantity and packaging together

SP375 sets conditional relief for liquids up to 5 L per single or inner packaging and solids up to 5 kg per single or inner packaging. The specified general packaging provisions must also be met. A small total shipment weight, by itself, does not establish compliance.

Ask for a packing breakdown showing inner and outer packaging, net quantity in each unit, closure and compatibility information. Keep the basis for using the provision with the booking file. A conditional IMDG relief should not be presented as approval of an air or road leg, a local administrative process or a carrier's acceptance.

Record the marine-pollutant basis separately

SP969 links the marine-pollutant requirements to the classification criteria in 2.9.3, with further provisions for particular cases. The UN number alone does not settle that assessment. Check the applicable criteria and retain the shipper's supporting basis.

Keep classification, package marking and cargo transport unit placarding as separate checks. First establish the applicable requirements and any valid relief; then prepare the instructions for the actual shipment. A fish-and-tree symbol copied from an earlier order is not supporting evidence.

Hand over a file that another person can check

• Identify the exact product, formulation and document revision.
• State the selected UN entry and the shipper's basis for it.
• Confirm the technical name and consistent document/marking text.
• Attach the packaging breakdown and any claimed provision with its checked conditions.
• Record the marine-pollutant assessment and unresolved carrier or route questions.

Open the UN3077 entry or UN3082 entry for the assigned packing, stowage and other provisions. If a field or source appears wrong, use the entry's feedback link and identify the field, edition and source page. That gives a correction request something concrete to verify.

← All English guides