Recently, a seller in the Philippines gave us feedback that they ordered a batch of portable power stations from our factory. Their shipping address was in the Philippines, but the goods they received in their Philippine warehouse were not portable power stations, but some useless plastic pellets. Their shipping company could not find their goods, and their portable power stations were lost during transportation! Why were his power stations lost during transportation?
Due to different regulations on batteries in different countries, there are also some differences in the transportation requirements for batteries and products with batteries. In the United States, according to the regulations of the Federal Transportation Administration（TSA） and the Federal Aviation Administration(FAA), all products containing batteries are required to pass hazardous chemical certification and MSDS transportation permit certification. Among them, lead-acid batteries can only be transported long distances by trucks, trains, or ships, and transportation by air is prohibited; The long-distance transportation of lithium batteries must pass the UN 38.8 hazardous chemical product certification and be packaged in specialized hazardous chemical packaging boxes before transportation. Moreover, products with batteries are generally not allowed to be mixed with other products for transportation, and there are usually specialized logistics, express delivery, and containers for separate packaging and transportation.
The core component of portable power generators is batteries, so countries have very strict transportation requirements for them, similar to those for batteries. Just different countries have different requirements. For example, in China, according to the transportation management regulations formulated by the China Post Administration, any electrical appliance with a battery capacity of less than 100Wh (or a power of less than 100 watts) is considered a non-hazardous battery product and can be transported through a courier company. Other products with batteries are mandatory to pass the "By sea identification and classification report for transport of dangerous goods" and "Identification and classification report for air transport of goods", and need to be independently packaged and transported through counters, special trains, or hazardous chemical product containers. If it is a product with lithium batteries, it also needs to obtain the "UN38.3 Test Report" for portable power station products and the "UN38.3 Test Report for lithium batteries" certification separately.
Moreover, as an electrical product, portable power stations also need to obtain electrical certification reports allowed by various countries according to the requirements of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC, https://iec.ch/). For example, electrical products sold in the United States need to obtain UL certification, electrical products sold in the European Union need to pass CE certification, electrical products sold in China need to pass CCC certification, electrical products sold in Japan need to obtain PSE certification, and so on.
Firstly, before purchasing power generators from a certain brand or manufacturer in bulk, we must first confirm whether the production environment and procedures of the power station manufacturer meet the requirements of the target sales country, such as whether the manufacturer has obtained a quality system certification certificate from a professional organization, whether the production line of the manufacturing factory is operated and managed according to 5S management standards, whether the production environment meets Reach and RoHS environmental and ingredient requirements, whether the products of the power station manufacturer meet various export quality requirements, and whether they meet the minimum export certification standards. Only when all the export requirements mentioned above are met can we confirm that the portable power station manufacturer providing services to us can produce products that meet our export requirements.
Secondly, according to different modes of transportation, we need to understand the packaging requirements that different modes of transportation need to have. For example, if the batteries of our portable power station are made of lead-acid batteries, the goods we purchase can only be transported by land and sea, and cannot be transported by air. Therefore, we only need a "By sea identification and classification report for transport of dangerous goods" for portable power stations made of lead-acid batteries. If our portable generators are made of lithium batteries, in addition to the certification report of the portable power station, we also need to provide the safety certification report of the lithium battery, as well as the UN38.3 certification and dangerous goods shipping report. In addition, we also need to provide specialized hazardous chemical packaging boxes and hazardous chemical transportation containers for portable power stations, which are all required for power stations with lithium batteries.
Again, although the portable power stations we purchased meet the above requirements, I believe that professional work should still be done by professionals. Find an experienced freight forwarding company to order shipping schedules and communicate with customs (customs declaration). This will save us a lot of time and ensure that our goods can be loaded onto the cargo ship faster. Because in the process of exporting goods, many handwritten documents are required to comply with the customs' export release requirements.
Finally, as an experienced freight forwarding agency, being able to contact shipping companies for containers, and trucks, and arrange various customs declaration materials before customs clearance not only saves us a lot of customs clearance time but also saves a lot of unnecessary costs. As a responsible freight forwarding company, they will carefully track our goods, ensure the safety of the entire transportation process, and ensure that the goods we order are finally arranged to arrive at our warehouse.
Having met all the above requirements, the next step is to constantly monitor the transportation status of our power stations during the transportation process, and urge our freight forwarding agency to pay attention to the transportation status of our power stations at all times. It is best to take corresponding photos and videos throughout the entire process of packing, container loading, customs declaration, technical training, and unloading to ensure that our goods arrive at our warehouse intact and safely.