The IAEA has become concerned by the reports which have reached it from companies and organisations encountering increasing problems raised by transport companies refusing to carry radioactive shipments even though the shipments conform to the regulations for such material. The T.I.C. was invited to take part in a meeting on Denial of Shipment at the IAEA in May 2006. In April, in preparation for this, the Technical Promotion Officer and the Secretary General conducted a fact-finding exercise among T.I.C. members and also maritime carriers. Members were asked to report cases where they had tried to place business with transport companies and the request had been refused, or the proposed journey had been made so difficult that the member had abandoned the attempt. Twenty possible maritime carriers were identified, and routes which might reasonably be used for tantalite and which appeared to be served by these carriers were selected. The firms were then asked to quote for transporting a container of 20 tonnes of tantalite with a level of radioactivity between 10 and 20 Bq/g, that is, very low level but considered as Class 7. Of the 20 companies, eight did not reply, 11 declined for a variety of reasons or for no given reason, one entered into correspondence about details of the load but in the end no quotation was obtained. This information was given to the IAEA meeting on Denial of Shipments in our presentation in May.
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