Biocourier

Packaging for biological material

The packaging is not the wrapping around the shipment. For biological material it is the shipment: it decides whether the contents are legal to carry, whether they survive a delay, and whether anyone at the destination will accept the box. We import ours from the leading manufacturers of materials for heat-sensitive and biological cargo, and we bring it to you rather than expecting you to source it.

What we carry

• Certified single-use UN3373B sample pouches. The primary and secondary receptacle for a Category B diagnostic specimen, built to packing instruction P650.
• Certified absorbent sleeves. Not an optional extra: the absorbent between the primary and secondary receptacle has to be able to take up everything the primary holds, and that is a requirement rather than a precaution.
• Certified and calibrated insulated boxes, +2 °C to +8 °C, holding for 48 to 120 hours.
• Certified and calibrated insulated boxes, −20 °C to −70 °C, holding for 48 to 120 hours, using dry ice - UN1845.
• Liquid nitrogen vessels - dry shippers - for transport at −196 °C, which travel as refrigerated liquid nitrogen, UN1977. These are our own.
• Digital dataloggers, placed inside the packaging, recording the temperature for the whole journey and producing a pdf at the end.

Things to watch out for

• Certified and calibrated are two separate claims. Certified means the box was built to a standard. Calibrated means it has been checked since, and it is the one people forget to ask about.
• A hold time is a test result, not a promise about your shipment. “48 to 120 hours” describes the box under test conditions. What your consignment gets depends on the ambient temperature, how full the box is and how long it stands still.
• Dry ice and liquid nitrogen are different dangerous goods. Dry ice is UN1845 and sublimates into gas; refrigerated liquid nitrogen is UN1977. They are not interchangeable, they are declared differently, and a shipment using one is not packed like a shipment using the other.
• An under-filled box performs worse than a full one. Void space is where a cold chain loses hours. If the consignment is small, say so and we will bring a box sized for it.
• Packaging is not the same question as classification. The right box does not make a Category A substance into a Category B one. What you are sending decides the regime; the box only implements it.

Official sources

Check these directly rather than taking anyone’s summary, including ours.

• WHO - Guidance on regulations for the transport of infectious substances: the reference text for packing instruction P650 and for triple packaging.
• UNECE - About the ADR: where UN1845 and UN1977 are classified for road transport.

Tell us what is travelling, at what temperature, and for how long it will be in transit, and we will tell you which of these it needs. Call +30 210 64 66 400 or email info@kanga.gr.