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Shipping Dry Ice with UPS

Updated

How do I ship dry ice with UPS?

When it comes to creating a UPS shipping label on EasyPost, there’s a dry_ice shipment option used to mark the weight of dry ice that needs to be filled out. As far as physical preparations go, it depends on which service you plan on using for your UPS delivery.

UPS Ground doesn’t regulate dry ice shipments, but we do recommend using sturdy cardboard with foam lining (DO NOT IT MAKE AIRTIGHT!) on the inside and you should mark it with the dry_ice: true option.

UPS shipping via Domestic Air requires a few extra steps to process medical dry ice shipments:

  • No Hazardous Material Agreement and Shipping Papers are required
  • No acceptance audit is performed
  • Mark outer carton with: "Dry Ice for Medical Purposes" and the amount of dry ice contained in the package
  • Obtain "Dry Ice for Medical Purposes" stickers via the UPS website (or call them at 1-800-554-9964)

UPS shipping via Domestic Air shipments of non-medical/non-hazardous packages containing less than 2.5 kgs of dry ice requires:

  • No Hazardous Material Agreement and Shipping Papers are required
  • No acceptance audit is performed
  • Mark outer carton with: "Dry Ice" and the amount of dry ice contained in the package.

UPS shipping via Domestic Air shipments of non-medical/non-hazardous packages containing more than 2.5 kgs of dry ice requires:

Under 49 CFR

  • UPS Dangerous Goods Agreement required
  • Hazardous Materials shipping papers required (along with a $5 per package dry ice fee)
  • An acceptance audit must be performed
  • Mark outer carton with: "Dry Ice" and the amount of dry ice contained in the package.
  • Mark net weight of dry ice on the shipping papers

Under IATA

  • An acceptance audit must be performed
  • Mark outer carton with: "Dry Ice" or "Carbon Dioxide, Solid" and the code "UN1845"
  • Mark outer carton with the amount of dry ice contained in the package in kilograms
  • Mark outer carton with Class 9 Diamond Label

Make sure you add the dry ice boolean to your shipment options with dry_ice: true like this:

"options":{
   "dry_ice": true,
   "dry_ice_weight": 10
}

Remember to also set the dry_ice_weight string with the exact weight of the dry ice in ounces on your Shipment options. The EasyPost API takes all weight values as oz, then converts to kg as needed on a per carrier basis. More information can be found in our API documentation. 

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