Shipments Are Not Held Because the Chemistry Is Dangerous
They are held because a class was declared wrong, a safety data sheet was out of date, or a label did not match the mode. The material was always going to be regulated. What stops the consignment is the paperwork around it — and that is preventable work, done before the booking rather than at the counter.
• DG_01 // CLASSIFICATION
What your adhesive probably is
You do not need to work this out. A conforming safety data sheet already states it, and where one is missing or unclear, establishing it is our job. This is here so the answer is never a surprise.
Class 3 — Flammable liquids
Solvent-borne products: surface treatment agents, primers and undercoats, and low-flash-point coatings. This is the most common reason an adhesive consignment cannot simply travel by air as general cargo.
Class 8 — Corrosive substances
Materials that attack skin or metal. In adhesives this usually means two-part epoxy systems — and specifically the hardener or curing agent side, not the resin, which is why one half of a kit can ship differently from the other.
Class 9 — Miscellaneous
The category that has grown. Environmental criteria, chiefly aquatic toxicity, now pull in products that moved as general cargo for years — anaerobics and some thermally conductive structural adhesives among them.
We do not issue compliance certificates. We establish and hold the documentation set, and we tell you what it says. Certification, where it is required, comes from the manufacturer or an accredited body.
• DG_02 // THE DOCUMENT SET
Five documents travel with the goods. None of them are yours.
A regulated consignment does not move on one form. Here is what has to exist, who produces it, and the point by which it has to be right.
Current revision, in the destination's required language, with section 14 consistent with how the goods are actually being shipped.
The formal statement of class, packing group, UN number and quantity per package, signed for the mode it is travelling by.
UN-specification packaging, marks and hazard labels matched to air, sea or road — they are not interchangeable.
The air waybill or bill of lading carrying the dangerous goods entries the carrier checks at acceptance.
The batch identity that lets the receiving plant tie what arrived back to what was qualified.
Four of these five are produced or held by us, and the fifth we verify before it travels. Your side of this is a purchase order.
• DG_03 // WHERE SHIPMENTS STOP
Four places a consignment actually stops
Every one of them is a document or a package failing a check that was knowable in advance.
Refused at acceptance
A class or packing group that does not match the packaging gets the consignment turned away at the carrier counter. The booking goes with it, and the next slot is not the next day.
Held at customs
An out-of-date safety data sheet, or one that does not agree with the declaration, is enough on its own. The goods sit in bond while somebody at origin is asked to reissue a document.
Repacked at origin
Marks and labels are mode-specific. Packaging that was correct for a road leg fails an air acceptance check, and the pallet is broken down and rebuilt before it goes anywhere.
Missed the vessel
A late change — a different grade, a larger quantity, an added destination — reopens the classification and the paperwork. If it lands inside the cut-off, the consignment rolls to the next sailing.
None of these four require you to do anything. They require somebody to have done it correctly, in advance, on your behalf.
• DG_04 // COMMON QUESTIONS
Questions we get before the first shipment
Look at section 14 of its safety data sheet — a conforming SDS states the transport class and whether air or sea is restricted. If the sheet is missing, out of date, or written to no recognisable standard, send us what you have and we will establish where the material actually sits before anything is booked.
Often yes, in the right packaging, at the right quantity per package, with the right declaration. Air is where the acceptance checks are strictest, which is exactly why the classification and packing decisions belong before the booking rather than at the counter.
No. We establish and hold the documentation set and we tell you plainly what it says. Certification, where it is required, comes from the manufacturer or from an accredited body — never from us.
The grade, the quantity, the destination, and the mode you would prefer. If you have the manufacturer's safety data sheet, send it; if you do not, obtaining it is part of the work rather than something you have to chase first.
It is a common one, and it gets handled at origin rather than discovered at the border. Putting a conforming, correctly translated sheet in place is part of preparing the consignment, not an extra step that lands back on you.
Send us the grade and the destination
We will tell you what it is classified as, how it can move, and what has to travel with it — before you commit to a date.
Vendor-neutral · No compliance certificates issued · Documentation set held by us