Shipping sodium chlorite: UN 1908, packing options and what the paperwork has to match

Most of the friction in a first shipment is not commercial. It is that the packing list, the dangerous goods declaration and the booking describe the cargo slightly differently, and the forwarder finds out at the terminal.

Start with classification. Sodium chlorite solution is UN 1908. It must not be transported together with acids or reducing substances, and it must be kept away from fire and heat sources. In a fire, use water spray or sand — dry powder extinguishers are prohibited. These are not our house rules; they follow from what the material is, and every carrier will apply them.

Now packing, because the net weights are what decide your container maths. Solid sodium chlorite ships in iron drums with a plastic inner liner at 50 kg net per drum. Liquid ships three ways: IBC totes at 1,250 kg net, 200 L polyethylene drums at 250 kg net, or 20 L polyethylene drums at 25 kg net. Customised packaging and concentration are available on request, but ask early — it changes the drawing on the dangerous goods declaration, not just the label.

Those four numbers are usually enough to work out whether your volume is a part load, a full 20-foot container, or something that should be split across two shipments for handling reasons. If you tell us the volume and the destination port, we will tell you which packing we would use and why.

On storage at your end: keep it in a cool, dry warehouse, away from fire and heat, and separated from acids, organic materials and reducing agents. A warehouse that is fine for most industrial salts is not automatically fine for an oxidiser. It is worth confirming with whoever runs the receiving site before the container arrives rather than after.

On documentation: the safety data sheet has to match the grade and the packing actually shipped, and the certificate of analysis has to match the batch. We issue the COA against the batch you were quoted rather than publishing one headline figure — a generic number on a website is not something you can hand to a customs officer or a QA department.

The single most useful thing you can send us at enquiry stage is the destination country and the mode of transport. Sea freight, air freight and road within a region are three different documentation sets, and the market decides which approvals apply. Getting that in the first email removes a week of back-and-forth from the front of the process.