Fery - 15-6-2021 at 03:44
How to ship metallic mercury? Is it even possible? It mustn't be shipped via air as it amalgamates aluminium etc. I expect every package transported
by air is scanned - when you travel by air personally your luggage and handbag are scanned. I remember that once I was stopped at a scanner to show
what is in my handbag when returning from the sea. There was somewhat like half a kilo of Pb fishing weights which I collected from the sea bottom (I
always try to clean whatever I can - plastic bags, pieces of fishing lines with hooks and fishing weights, lost fishing lures etc) and Pb is very good
shielding material for the X-ray scanner so is Hg.
Converting Hg into salt like Hg(NO3)2 is not the suitable option. I'm asking only for a help how to ship metallic mercury.
Do you know which couriers do use only trucks / trains for shipment?
I expect shipment will be possible only inside EU. Exporting Hg from EU seems to be prohibited:
https://www.kemi.se/en/rules-and-regulations/additional-eu-r...
Maybe if we create a chain in such a way that I will ship to surrounding countries from which everyone takes some part of the mercury (how much
needed) and ships the rest further (to their surrounding countries)? This is certainly done via road/railway as shipments from surrounding countries
into my country are sorted in different railway centers (each surrounding country has dedicated its own city with exchange postal service). How to
avoid air transport (risk of aircraft damage, parcel captured by x-ray scanners)?
I received few mercury thermometers from China this year without any problem (they were traveling by train for few months), they are up to 300 C, but
I'm asking about metallic mercury, not thermometers (maybe they are gallium based instead, who knows).
Texium - 15-6-2021 at 05:34
In the US at least, I’m pretty sure you can just be honest and request ground shipping, and they’ll add the appropriate labels.
rockyit98 - 15-6-2021 at 10:47
ampuled then cast in resin is the safest way but it is inconvenient. they used to ship dental mercury in sealed steel bottles. plastic or glass
bottles are out because heavy bottles tend to rupture on impact. in my lab small quantities of stuff keep in a ceramic bottles but not for shipping.
often Sulfur is added around incase of a spill .
morganbw - 15-6-2021 at 14:30
500 grams or so that I bought several years ago came in a plastic bottle.
The bottle was placed in a heavy plastic bag (sized for it) and then was incased within a Styrofoam block made for its size.
Boxed and ground shipped.
This is USA, no clue on present rules and less clues from other nations.
I think that a pound was the limit I was allowed to buy so 453 grams or so.
[Edited on 6/15/2021 by morganbw]
draculic acid69 - 16-6-2021 at 02:53
I think it's shipped in steel cannisters for large amounts.
Plastic bottles would be the go for small amounts.
Fery - 16-6-2021 at 12:35
The goal is to supply SM forumers if anyone interested at all. Thank you guys for all ideas of packaging. We must still solve the transport / courier
(how to avoid air transport without hitting attention), I expect it won't be possible to cross EU borders with its shipment.
draculic acid96 - I saw even large amount in plastic bottle (5 kg) 
though I'm
not sure whether it was packed for transport or just to store it
katyushaslab - 16-6-2021 at 13:28
The last time I bought mercury, it was shipped by air (airmail markings on the packet). The "scanning" of airmail is nowhere near as thorough as one
would expect.
How was it packaged, you ask? Extremely thin glass vials wrapped in some packing, inside a jiffy bag. No real protections at all. Nearly gave me a
fucking heart attack when I opened the packages, which had been dropped unceremoniously in my postbox.
Whatever you do, don't do *that*.
I do think though that with DHL or similar couriers you can request ground shipping quite easily, at least within Europe.
[Edited on 16-6-2021 by katyushaslab]
phlogiston - 16-6-2021 at 15:18
I'd go for a plastic bottle in a metal can with foam, vermiculite or some other shock-absorbing inert material. Lots of nasty chemicals are shipped in
that fashion by reputable chemical suppliers.