“Can you even ship a battery here?” is one of the most common questions we get from boats in remote anchorages — usually asked nervously, because somewhere along the line everyone has been told batteries can’t fly. The truth is more useful: it depends entirely on the chemistry, and for the batteries most cruising boats carry, the answer is a clean yes.

Sealed AGM and GEL: not dangerous goods. A quality sealed battery — AGM or GEL, the valve-regulated “non-spillable” type — is classified non-hazardous for transport. Under the US regulations most carriers follow (49 CFR 173.159(d)) and IATA special provisions A67 and A48, a tested non-spillable battery that’s protected against short circuit and marked NON-SPILLABLE ships with no UN number, no dangerous-goods declaration and no DG surcharge — by air, sea or road. Fullriver publishes exactly this in their transport documentation, and it’s why we can put an AGM house bank on a plane to a boat in the Maldives without drama. The practical requirements are packaging ones: terminals protected, battery secured upright, the non-spillable marking visible. We handle all of that as standard.

Flooded (wet) batteries: the awkward ones. Traditional open lead-acid batteries with free liquid inside are dangerous goods (UN2794) and most airlines simply won’t take them. They can travel by sea and road with the right paperwork, but if you’re somewhere remote, a flooded battery is the hardest replacement to get to you — one more reason sealed AGM has taken over on cruising boats.

Lithium: genuine dangerous goods, but routine ones. LiFePO4 and other lithium batteries ship as Class 9 dangerous goods (UN3480). That doesn’t mean they can’t travel — it means they need UN-spec packaging, a dangerous-goods declaration, a state-of-charge limit for air freight (30%), and a carrier that accepts DG. It adds cost and a few days, and some routes are cargo-aircraft-only. We’re set up for it: we handle the paperwork and compliant packaging, and we’ll always tell you the realistic transit time before you commit.

What this means when you’re ordering. Tell us where the boat actually is and how soon you need to be sailing. From our Trang warehouse: local delivery around Trang, Krabi and Phuket is free on our weekly run; Thailand-wide courier takes 1–3 days; international air freight of AGM is days, not weeks; lithium and sea freight need more lead time. Every battery is bench-tested before it leaves, whatever the destination.

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