The Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) at 5.0.2.11 allow for the transportation of different dangerous goods in a single outer packaging (aka: all packed in one). A particular challenge when packing different dangerous goods in a single outer packaging is to comply with the dangerous good’s per package quantity limits found in the following columns of the List of Dangerous Goods at 4.2:

• Column H for limited quantity
• Column J for passenger and cargo aircraft
• Column L for cargo aircraft only

In order to ensure the per package quantity limits are not exceeded IATA requires the shipper/packer of the dangerous good to calculate its “Q” value. The purpose of this article is to explain how to calculate the “Q” value of a package containing different dangerous goods to ensure compliance with the per package quantity limits of the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations. (more…)