Sample shipping and transportation

If samples are transported frozen, the packaging containers should be made of a hard and impact-resistant material such as polystyrene. Cardboard cartons with insulating material can also be used. 

To ensure that the samples are still frozen on reaching their destination, adequate insulation and a sufficient supply of dry ice are absolutely necessary. A minimum of 1 kg of dry ice per kilogram of sample material is normally needed, but the amount must be increased if the containers are poorly insulated. 

Packaging must comply with existing transport regulations. If necessary, labels must be attached to the outside of the dispatch container with warnings such as the following  

Good rules to adopt when transporting samples are as follows  

Do not dispatch samples less than 2 days before a weekend or a public holiday to avoid unexpected delays. Should the samples arrive outside working hours, provision must be made for suitable intermediate storage. Often this is left to the responsibility of security staff, who may not be aware of the importance of the frozen samples. 

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