DDGS Classified Non-Hazardous

Dried grains with solubles.

Classification of distiller’s dried grains with solubles as non-hazardous cargo has become final and mandatory under the International Maritime Organization’s code.

It is the culmination of a process initiated by the U.S. Grains Council in 2010 in coordination with DDGS producers and shippers and the U.S. Coast Guard, which is the official U.S. representative to the IMO, after several insurance companies suggested that DDGS be classified as a hazardous cargo, raising the possibility that DDGS cargoes would be required to be shipped on vessels equipped with special fire suppression equipment, according to Erick Erickson, USGC director of global strategies.

The non-hazardous classification ensures lower freight costs, in turn increasing returns to ethanol plants, said Steve Markham, council member of agribusiness CHS Inc.