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Air shippers struggle to find suppliers of lithium batteries under new rules

THE banning of lithium-ion batteries on passenger aircraft has left cargo owners unable to source from existing suppliers, while others are expected to breach the maximum 30 per cent state-of-charge rule that came into effect on April 1.

The shippers' concerns were raised by the assistant director for cargo safety and standards at the International Air Transport Association, Dave Brennan, who told Lloyd's Loading List that a supplier of hearing aids based in Australia that had been using a battery supplier in Switzerland had complained there were no direct freighter connections between the two countries.

Mr Brennan said it was also unclear how many shippers of lithium-ion batteries would be able to comply initially with the 30 per cent state-of-charge rule, particularly because significant volumes of the batteries would already be in warehouses at a higher state of charge.

With no obvious way to test the state of charge of batteries once they had already been packed, either by shippers, the air cargo sector, or national authorities, he believed it was almost inevitable that in the initial weeks and months following the April 1 deadline, some batteries would continue to be shipped by air on freighters at a state of charge higher than 30 per cent.

Technically, this would mean they were in breach of the rules covering the carriage of dangerous goods by air, although observers believe that the risks associated with carrying properly manufactured, tested and packaged batteries by air on freighters at a state of charge higher than 30 per cent were minimal, at least for a few weeks or months following the implementation of the new rules.