To the rescue: Can lithium batteries be made safe for flight?

 Not-so-standard shipments

An even more troubling issue than the difficulty of battery-fire suppression is the lack of proper systems to track the location of lithium batteries. Classified as “dangerous goods,” lithium batteries are subject to a strict set of requirements for their safe packaging and transport, said Ellen Pym, senior sales manager for the cargo business unit at AmSafe. But in many cases, she said, agents and shippers do not declare the cells as dangerous goods, so they often find their way into “standard” shipments without a carrier’s knowledge.

“We have designed and tested for this scenario, using a reasonable quantity of lithium ion batteries hidden in various locations on a standard cargo load,” Pym said. “The fire containment covers and fire containment bags will provide protection against a lithium ion battery fire, when the batteries are within a normal cargo load. Further tests are currently being conducted, and we are working with the FAA, to understand the maximum quantity of batteries at any one time and to develop the test standard.”

These rogue battery shipments are becoming a problem because a counterfeit battery business is creeping into cargo, posing a danger to aviation safety. According to the Journal of Commerce, the mis-declaration of shipments is being regularly exposed. IATA head of cargo, Glyn Hughes, cited a recent incident in which an air waybill for a six-tonne, 300-box shipment of cell phone accessories said it contained “no battery, no magnet.” It was about to fly off on Philippines Airlines, but, fortunately while still on the ground, one of the boxes in the pallet began to smoke, leading ground crews to discover that there were thousands of improperly packed and labeled lithium batteries in the boxes.

In a separate incident, Hughes said the shipper of a model aircraft that used a powerful lithium-polymer battery blatantly created a fraudulent consignment in order to circumvent the dangerous goods regulations. In the description of the cargo, the shipper wrote: “The power of this kind of battery is more than 100W. We will attach the real label inside the cover of the battery and attach one wrong label showing it is below 100W on the surface of the battery… Hope you can understand, and we apologize to you for the inconvenience.”

Ventura’s Snow agreed that shippers are supposed to declare hazardous cargo, but often don’t, not realizing just how dangerous they are. He said a good manufacturer of batteries will add a small piece of Mylar under each battery – the little tab you pull out of a new product sometimes – which keeps the device from powering up. He said in 2009 a load of e-cigarettes on a FedEx MD-11 automatically “inhaled” when the cabin pressure changed. The load caught fire, but Halon discharged in the lower deck to keep the flames in check. “They got it on the round, but the pallet was still on fire,” Snow said.

This deception by shippers was brought up at ICAO’s Dangerous Goods Panel in Montreal this past spring. The panel noted that the average person shipping small quantities of lithium batteries shouldn’t be subject to full regulations, but the unforeseen consequence was that some shippers had been taking advantage of the provision, to facilitate the shipment of the batteries in bulk. The idea that undeclared and mis-declared lithium batteries were a risk was not disputed by anyone at the meeting. FIATA maintains observer status in ICAO’s Dangerous Goods Panel, in order to follow the regulatory process and consider its impact on the air cargo supply chain.

Forwarder Ron Lee of Transgroup said most shippers don’t know the rules and regulations, which necessitates closer scanning procedures. Lee said Transgroup has its own scanning machine in Newark, where it can scan its own cargo, as well as other forwarders’ cargo, before taking it to the airport.

At the Montreal meeting, The International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Association recommended that packaging and shipping requirements be established to more safely ship lithium batteries as belly cargo. They also said that high density packages of lithium batteries and cells should not be transported as cargo on passenger aircraft until safer methods of transport were established. The group suggested that packaging and shipping requirements be tightened up for the batteries to be carried on freighters.

The International Federation of Airline Pilots’ Associations went so far as to recommend lithium batteries not be transported at all on freighters. FIATA’s Eid said individuals and independent agents spawned by the internet’s ability to source electronics have fostered an exponential growth of business-to-consumer shipments, with many shippers using the postal or courier air services and failing to understand the important role they play in identifying, classifying, declaring and packaging dangerous goods. “This again underscores the need for clear, understandable and uniformly applied regulatory standards,” he said.

Additonally, Kerchner said because some Asian companies are misrepresenting or not declaring that their airfreight contains lithium batteries, there is fear that additional regulations might drive more of them underground. ICAO’s Dangerous Goods Panel was scheduled to meet again, Oct. 19-30, which was past Air Cargo World’s press deadline. Hopefully, the panel will have had a meaningful conversation and came up with some great ideas.

“People’s fears are legitimate,” Lee said. “They see stuff going in the belly of a plane and wonder what it is.”

Like the fires the batteries have created, the debate over lithium-battery regulation continues to burn, and does not appear to be going out any time soon.

See sidebar: https://aircargoworld.com/some-answers-to-burning-questions/