Guide to Shipping With Dry Ice

Dry Ice Shipping ContainerShipping using dry ice to keep your shipment cold is easy and inexpensive when you follow safe and practical dry ice shipping guidelines. Dry ice has three [3] times the cooling capacity of regular wet ice, so pound for pound, dry ice is very economical.

In general, the amount of dry ice allowed for shipping is referenced to the air carriers' regulations. This limits packages to 5 pounds or less of dry ice for air transport, but generally the amount of dry ice used is unlimited for ground shipments. For shipping purposes, dry ice is considered a hazardous material, must have a Class 9 DOT miscellaneous hazardous material warning label, and must be clearly marked "Carbon Dioxide Solid, UN1845" Or "Dry Ice, UN1845. The five [5] pound dry ice shippiong limit for air carriers would require delivery of the package within 24 hours, as recommended amounts of dry ice for ordinary cooler use would be ten [10] pounds per day.

The major problem in understanding the regulations about the use of dry ice for shipping is that dry ice is most often associated with other hazardous material, especially biological. Before shipping, it is best to contact the specific shipper for their requirements. Common to all, either air or ground, is the container itself. The dry ice shipping container must be able to vent automatically the carbon dioxide gas generated by the sublimating dry ice.

Links for dry ice shipping information:

dry ice shipping chart