UN Box Calculator

The code is read in parts. The figure is the kind of packaging: 4 is a box. The capital letter is the material: G is fibreboard, D is plywood, A is steel and H is plastics. Under ADR 6.1.2.4 the code may be followed by the letters T, V or W, and the letter V denotes a special packaging conforming to the requirements of 6.1.5.1.7. A 4GV is therefore a fibreboard box of the special type, and a 4DV is its plywood equivalent.

A 4G is approved for the combination of inner packagings it was tested with, and that is what you may ship. A 4GV is tested for the most demanding case: ADR 6.1.5.1.7 (a) requires the outer packaging to have passed the drop test of 6.1.5.3 with fragile inner packagings, glass for example, containing liquids, at the drop height for packing group I. That is why articles or inner packagings of any type may afterwards be assembled and carried in it without testing each combination. In practice the test is simple: if your inner packagings are listed in the box's test report, a 4G is enough; if they are not, the 4GV is what covers them. It does not depend on whether you carry absorbent.

It is not. ADR 6.1.5.1.7 sets conditions that travel with the box: the total gross mass of the inner packagings must not exceed half the gross mass of the inner packagings used in the drop test, and the thickness of the cushioning between the inner packagings, and between them and the outside of the box, must not be reduced below that of the packaging originally tested. Where fewer or smaller inner packagings are used, enough cushioning must be added to fill the voids. Check these points against the test report of your specific box before relying on the V.

Yes. The calculator uses the internal usable dimensions and leaves a small allowance for cushioning. That allowance matters: under ADR 6.1.5.1.7 (c) the thickness of the cushioning between the inner packagings, and between them and the outside of the box, must not be less than in the packaging originally tested.

They are the packing groups for which the design type passed the tests, under ADR 6.1.3.1: X covers packing groups I, II and III; Y covers II and III; Z covers III only. A box marked Y may therefore be used for substances in packing groups II and III, but not in packing group I. The figure that follows is the maximum gross mass in kilograms for packagings intended for solids or fitted with inner packagings, or the relative density for single packagings intended for liquids, which may be omitted when it does not exceed 1.2.