Shipping

Overview

At Argonne, Shipping is a process that is highly focused on safety. Shipping things improperly can incur fines exceeding $80,000 per day/ per offense.

Unforseen issues can often occur with shipping which could significantly hinder your ability to conduct your experiment. It is recommended that you ship your items 2-3 days before they are needed for your experiment.

  • Users are not authorized to ship anything to BioCAT before their ESAF has been approved!

To begin - please review the following websites, which address basic Argonne guidelines for shipping samples, chemicals, and equipment:

It is highly recommended that you consult with your institution’s shipping coordinator (if you have one) regarding the legal ways to ship samples, buffers, chemicals, specimens, and equipment to BioCAT. You may also consult with Argonne’s Shipping Department for advice regarding your shipment.

Shipping is a highly regulated activity by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) and Argonne National Laboratory, which may also involve other government agencies for approvals and permits to ship certain plant, animal, and human specimens, as well as, any viruses, fungi, bacteria, etc… Additionally, the type of packaging needs to be coordinated with the hazards associated with your shipment. Not following Department of Transportation rules and regulations can result in very large fines.

Some Users prefer to transport materials by personal vehicle. Be advised that the same DOT and Argonne Regulations apply to personal vehicle transport. There are also additional regulations which you need to be aware of… for example, Users are not allowed to transport dry-ice in a personal vehicle.

First Stage: ESAF Submission and Approval

The first stage in determining shipping requirements will be to complete the ESAF for your experiment. Under the ‘Materials’ Tab, you will list all of the samples, chemicals, buffers, and commercial products (which contain chemicals) that you will be using during the course of your experiment. Include all chemicals, even if you will be using some which belong to BioCAT, which you will not be shipping.

Second Stage: Shipping Requirements

Samples and Chemicals

Small quantities of chemicals found in buffers are usually okay to ship via FedEx due to the DOT small quantity exemption rule - depending on hazard class and quantity. Please refer to your MSDS and institutional shipping experts. Exceptions to this are hazardous materials - ie. adding berylium to a buffer would make it a hazardous material. Hazardous material inclusion would have to be approved through the ESAF associated with your experiment.

Bulk chemicals, however, often have associated hazards and packaging requirements which require a shipping specialist. If your experiment will require bulk chemicals/ reagents, we recommend that you order those chemicals and have them shipped directly to BioCAT from the vendor (ie, Sigma, Fisher, etc). It is often less expensive and time consuming to leave bulk/ stock chemicals with us at BioCAT, so that you can access them again when you come back to BioCAT for future experiments.

Temperature

Temperature is also an important consideration for your package. 4C packages may be shipped with cold-packs, while -20C packages will require dry-ice. Dry shippers are another means of shipping samples at liquid nitrogen temperatures.

At Argonne, dry-ice is considered a hazardous material. As such, the outer box must include all relevant markings, and the container must conform to package requirements. You are responsible for making sure packages are prepared properly. Argonne may also impose penalties for improperly shipped items.

Equipment

Equipment should be evaluated for it’s ability to contain any ‘stored energy.’ Rechargeable batteries, large storage capacitors, chemical components, or high-pressure potential needs to be explored and mitigated where possible. Electrical equipment should be wrapped in plastic (in case the box gets wet) and should be shipped separately from wet chemicals and chemicals that present a flammable hazard.

Third Stage: Shipping your items to BioCAT

Please plan the arrival of your samples/ materials needed for your experiment at BioCAT carefully. You should send your samples such that they arrive a day or two before the start day of your experiment - on a business week day! It is difficult and sometimes impossible to receive packages at BioCAT on a weekend or holiday, so samples may sit at room temperature for several days if they arrive on a weekend or holiday.

If you would like to ship nonhazardous materials to BioCAT, you should ship to:

<Scientific Contact’s Name> c/o Argonne National Lab
Bldg 435 Room B
9700 South Cass Avenue
Lemont, IL 60439

Hazardous materials should be sipped to:

<Scientific Contact’s Name> c/o Bldg 46, Haz Mat

with the rest of the address the same.

To prepare your package, please note that if you send a styrofoam container, it needs to have an outer cardboard box or FedEx will return the package to you. All shipping boxes should be labeled with the following on the outside of the box:

  1. The box should have a label that says ‘PERISHABLE` if it contains perishable goods.
  2. You should write storage instructions on the outside of the package: Room temperature, 4 C (refrigerate), -20 C, or -80 C.
  3. Attach a shipping label, which is separate from the FedEx label with a sender address and phone number and a recipient address(which includes your Scientific Contact’s name) with the extensions 2-0543 and 2-0540.

Inside the box, include:

  1. A detailed list of contents: a list of every sample, buffer, chemical, and other items that are in the box, so we can verify that we found it all.
  2. Storage instructions for every sample and buffer; and your contact information (including a phone a number we can reach you at if we have questions about the shipped items).
  3. Proper organization: do not toss a bunch of loose tubes in a cooler/ box. Use zip-lock bags, large conical tubes, freezer boxes, or other secondary containment to properly organize your shipment.
  4. Proper labeling: tubes labeled with lab tape or sticky labels can become unstuck when packaged with dry-ice. Use a Sharpie, lab-marker, or cold-resistant labels when shipping your samples with dry-ice.

The preferred method of shipping at Argonne is FedEx Priority Overnight. If you want your samples to arrive promptly (the morning after shipping), you must use this method. Otherwise they may arrive in the afternoon, or even later.

Please send the tracking information to your scientific contact once you ship your package.

Final Stage: Shipping your items from BioCAT

BioCAT does not have a budget for shipping users’ samples and chemicals to or from your home institution(s). It is highly recommended that you prepare your own items for shipping back to your home institution upon completion of your experiment. The preferred method of shipping at Argonne is FedEx. Please make note of your FedEx account number before coming to BioCAT.

BioCAT does not supply freezer or refrigerator space for the long-term storage of samples. Refrigerators and freezers are routinely purged of all User samples. Therefore, if you would like to keep your samples you should prepare them for shipment back to your home institution at the conclusion of your experiment.

If you would like to ship materials to your home institution, you must:

  • Declare any chemicals, solvents, air cans, rechargeable batteries, etc. which are packed in the container.
  • Compile a list of these chemicals and amounts with paper copies links to the corresponding MSDS sheets.
  • Include your institution’s FedEx Number and Internal Billing Reference.
  • Plan ahead for a complete inspection of package contents.
  • Consult with BioCAT Staff (Mark Vukonich) regarding finalization of shipping your packages back to your home institution.