Notes on shipping from the lower 48 to BASC

 

July 20, 2007

Matt Cottrell

mattcott@udel.edu

 

mod 2 August 16, 2007

Bryan D. Thomas

Bryan.Thomas@arcticscience.org

 

Carriers vary in their ability to ship different types of packages to BASC in Barrow, AK. The suggestions below are based on the 2007 field season and should be taken as guidelines only.  Many other exceptions may occur, but one rule is always true, you can never start shipping your gear too early.

 

1-      Large amounts of gear (no dangerous goods/hazmat) on pallets

a.       Contact Shiloh MacCabe (907 771-5402, shiloh@naclink.com) at NACLink, which is the freight forwarding division of Northern Air Cargo.

b.      Transit time from the East Coast was 2.5 weeks, which included a less than truckload shipment from Delaware to Fife, Washington by Old Dominion Freight Lines, barge from Fife, WA to Anchorage by Lynden Transport and then air from Anchorage to Barrow by Northern Air Cargo.

2-      Individual packages (no dangerous goods/hazmat)

a.       FedEx is reliable and rapid.

b.      There is daily delivery of FedEx packages in Anchorage to Northern Air Cargo for daily flights to Barrow.

c.       Never send dangerous goods/hazmat via FedEx to Barrow because FedEx will not forward dangerous goods/hazmat packages to Northern Air Cargo.

d.      A Hageland employee in Barrow makes daily delivery of packages from Northern Air Cargo/Hageland (907 852-5400) at the airport in Barrow to BASC.

3-      Dangerous goods/hazmat, including radioactive materials

a.       Include information here from UAF Krause regarding hazmat, when available.

b.      DHL is a reliable choice.

c.       DHL will transfer dangerous goods shipments to Northern Air Cargo in Anchorage.  Online tracking on the DHL web site will show the Northern Air Cargo airway bill number in the signature field.

d.      There is no DHL employee in Barrow, so DHL packages are held at the airport at Northern Air Cargo/Hageland for pickup.

e.       Notify BASC of the expected delivery date, the airbill number, weight volume and count details of shipment. Email the details to Alice, Lewis and Glenn – logistics@arcticscience.org or another list for ease of use? or fax to 907 852-4882. Include the BASC telephone number (907 852-4881) on the shipment.  BASC will pick up the freight at Northern Air Cargo.

f.       Northern Air Cargo/Hageland (907 852-5400) will confirm that a package has arrived if given the Northern Air Cargo airway bill number.  Mention that it was a DHL shipment.

g.      Dangerous goods/hazmat can be successfully sent to BASC using UPS, but it can take longer because in some cases they use Alaska Airlines for the leg from Anchorage to Barrow.  Express packages have been known to sit in Anchorage at Alaska Airlines for a few days.

4-      Shipping frozen samples home on dry ice.

a.       confirm in advance that you or your institution are considered by the airlines to be a “known shipper” and that you have an active account with the chosen shipping organization (maybe we will need to reorganize this into a supersection about “shipping home”).

b.      Dry ice can be purchased from vendors in Anchorage and shipped to Barrow on Northern Air Cargo

                                                              i.      Alaska Packaging, Anchorage – (907) 272-8834

                                                            ii.      Tenth & M Seafood, Anchorage – (907) 272-3474

c.       Take the package to Northern Air Cargo/Hageland for  FedEx shipment back to your lab. 

d.      You will complete a FedEx air bill supplied at the counter in Barrow.

e.       You will pay a separate charge for Northern Air Cargo to fly the package to Anchorage (NAC standard rate as of 26 July 2007 is 37.77 for packages less than 100 pounds, 19 cents per pound thereafter.).

f.       FedEx picks up daily at Northern Air Cargo in Anchorage.

g.      You must complete the FedEx airbill correctly.

                                                              i.      Mark the check the box for "Dangerous goods – no declaration required"

                                                            ii.      Mark the check the box for "Dry ice".

                                                          iii.      Indicate the weight of dry ice on the air bill.

                                                          iv.      Apply a FedEx UN1845 dry ice label to the box

1.      Complete the label with your address (the shipper).  Use the BASC address.

2.      Complete the label with the ship to address (your lab).

3.      Indicate the weight of dry ice on the label.

                                                            v.      Bring your own dry ice label to Barrow in case there are none at the counter at Northern Air Cargo/Hageland.

5-      Shipping out of Barrow via DHL

a.       Complete and print a DHL airbill at http://www.dhl-usa.com using DHL WebShip (http://www.dhl-usa.com/resources/DHLWebShipQuickRef.pdf). Paper airbill forms are not available in Barrow.

b.      Take the package to Northern Air Cargo/Hageland for DHL shipment.

c.       You will pay a separate charge for Northern Air Cargo to fly the package to Anchorage (NAC standard rate as of 26 July 2007 is 37.77 for packages less than 100 pounds, 19 cents per pound thereafter.).

d.      NAC will transfer the package to Alaska Logistics freight forwarding who will deliver the package to DHL in Anchorage.

e.       DHL will accept and deliver the package if the airbill is attached, correct, and prepaid.

6-      Some pitfalls

a.       Some FedEx employees are not aware that dangerous goods will be held for pickup in Anchorage and not forwarded on to Northern Air Cargo.  This includes radioactive materials UN2910 limited quantity excepted packages.

b.      DHL will use the US mail to send packages from Anchorage to Barrow if they are not dangerous goods/hazmat.  This can be okay and DHL adds the USPS tracking number to the signature field that you will see when tracking the package online, but there are some caveats.

                                                              i.      The package must be addressed to the BASC P.O. box 577 in Barrow otherwise the Barrow post office will return the package to DHL in Anchorage.

                                                            ii.      DHL employees in Anchorage have been known to leave off the P.O. box 577 even when it was clearly on the package when it arrived in Anchorage.

                                                          iii.      This an insidious trap because normally one shall not use a P.O. box in the address for carriers such as DHL.

                                                          iv.      The USPS tracking number will not report an origin scan because DHL does the metering themselves not at the USPS counter.

                                                            v.      Telephone calls to the Anchorage post office are futile because USPS employees are not aware that DHL mails packages to Barrow.

c.       Northern Air Cargo requires a hazardous materials declaration form to ship dry ice. This is not really a problem, but it is not necessary according to IATA and 49CFR regulations. 

7-      Dangerous goods stranded in Anchorage

a.       Call TGI freight in Anchorage (907 522-3088).

b.      TGI will pick up your package at FedEx, for example, complete the necessary dangerous goods hazardous materials declaration and deliver the package to Northern Air Cargo for shipment to Barrow.

c.       This is expensive but can be avoided by not using FedEx for dangerous goods.

8-      Vendors such as Fisher Scientific, Sigma-Aldrich and Perkin-Elmer Life Sciences may not be aware of the difficulty shipping hazardous materials to Barrow, so be sure to give them explicit shipping instructions when placing your order.  Tell them not to use FedEx for dangerous goods.  Be sure that vendors send packages by air for their entire journey, otherwise, they can get stuck at the point where the are to go by air.  There are special hazmat declarations that must be done for air travel and the vendor must do them from the start.

9-      Useful contacts

a.       Northern Air Cargo – Anchorage (907) 243-3331

b.      Northern Air Cargo – Barrow (907) 852-5400

c.       NACLink – Anchorage, Shiloh MacCabe (907) 771-5402

d.      Alaska Airlines – Anchorage (800) 225-2752

e.       Alaska Airlines – Barrow (907) 852-8820

f.       Alaska Packaging, dry ice – Anchorage (907) 272-8834

g.      Tenth & M Seafood, dry ice – Anchorage (907) 272-3473

h.      TGI Freight (Hazmat) - Anchorage (907) 522-3088

i.        FedEx Hazmat Hotline – (800) 463-3339 and press 81

j.        DHL Operations – Anchorage (907) 243-4313

10-  Ship your gear early, follow it every step of the way and be prepared to take action to get stuck packages moving again.  Starting early keeps time on your side.  Then enjoy getting your science done in the readily accessible Arctic environment around BASC.

11-  Useful information

a.       Shipping information for Alaska Airlines http://www.alaskaair.com/as/www2/cargo/images/Shipping-Services.pdf

b.      Known Shipper Contract Alaska Airlines http://alaskacargo.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/alaskacargo.cfg/php/enduser/fattach_get.php? p_accessibility=0&p_tbl=9&p_id=1&p_created=1153875136&p_olh=0