Response to interpellation 2022/23:236 on the transport of dangerous goods
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the transport of dangerous goods, particularly used lithium-ion batteries. M considers that legislation exists and that authorities such as MSB, the Coast Guard, and the Police Authority are responsible for compliance 1. M argues that MSB takes measures through information 1 2, that prosecution is a task for law enforcement agencies and that the issue should be followed 1. M wants dialogue with authorities to understand the scope of the problem, but argues that the risks increase in line with the technological shift and transport volumes. SD argues that the situation is serious when transports occur without labeling or load securing 3 4 and that the government must act since the Coast Guard warns of increasing risks 3 5. SD argues that the government needs to raise the issue to ensure controls on the road because the police lack statistics on transports that fly under the radar 4 5.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M)
Mr. Speaker! Thomas Morell has asked the Minister for Defence what measures are intended to be taken to accelerate necessary actions regarding the monitoring of and interventions to stop the dangerous transports of used lithium-ion batteries. The work within the government is distributed such that it is I who shall answer the interpellation.
Rules for the transport of dangerous goods are found in the Act and Regulation on the Transport of Dangerous Goods as well as in the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency's regulations in the area. In the regulation MSBFS 2022:3 on the transport of dangerous goods by road, it is stated, among other things, how lithium-ion batteries shall be classified, packaged, marked, and documented. It is the sender's duty to ensure that the dangerous goods are correctly classified and permitted for transport, that only approved and suitable packages and tanks are used, and that the goods are correctly marked and labeled. Those who do not follow these provisions can, among other things, be convicted of an offense against the Act on the Transport of Dangerous Goods to a fine or imprisonment.
MSB is a so-called transport authority for the transport of dangerous goods by road and rail. That mandate includes creating conditions for safe transport of dangerous goods on land. MSB also issues regulations within the area. Other authorities also have responsibilities in connection with the transport of dangerous goods. The Police Authority, the Transport Agency, the Coast Guard, and the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority are all supervisory authorities and shall ensure that the regulations on the transport of dangerous goods are complied with.
With an aging fleet of electric vehicles, the volume of transports of used lithium-ion batteries will likely increase as they are a commodity that can continue to be used for other purposes. These transports of old lithium-ion batteries have been noticed by relevant authorities recently, not only in Sweden but also in other countries such as Norway. Work is also being done internationally within the EU to develop more suitable regulations for these batteries so that they can be transported and reused in a safe manner.
I can state that there is legislation regulating the area and that designated authorities have been tasked with supervising that the regulatory framework is followed. MSB also takes specific measures in the area by informing relevant supervisory authorities and industry organizations about the risk of accidents and safety requirements in the handling of lithium-ion batteries. Furthermore, MSB intends to discuss the issue with its counterpart in Norway, Direktoratet for samfunnssikkerhet og beredskap.
In summary, I can state that this is a relatively new but known problem that is being handled by the responsible authorities. I intend to continue to follow the issue and am prepared to consider further measures if necessary.
Thomas Morell (SD)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.
Dangerous goods is a collective term for substances or objects that can cause damage to people, the environment, or property. We often see such transports out on the road; there is an orange sign on the cars. Some signs state which substance is on board. Labels indicate whether the substances are corrosive, explosive, or whatever they may be.
These transports are subject to a rather complicated set of regulations so that we do not end up with serious accidents or that they should affect people or the environment. In order to minimize the risks, it is extremely important that the transports follow the regulations. If it is a transport with dangerous goods that goes completely hidden - there are no signs on the vehicle that it is a transport with dangerous goods - the rescue services may take the wrong measures in the event of an accident, and then the situation is dramatically worsened.
Let me take an example. When I worked as a regional manager at Sveriges Åkeriföretag, it was a company in Skaraborg that ordered a transport of 22,500 kilos of a substance that was self-igniting. A little water would have been enough to cause a fire that could best be compared to an explosion. This transport went completely unnoticed all the way up from Gothenburg. If the vehicle had happened to be involved in a traffic accident, the rescue service could have taken wrong measures in its rescue work. Then one would have ended up in a much worse situation than before.
Now the Coast Guard is alerting that they see transports carrying used lithium-ion batteries from cars. The batteries may be exhausted, meaning that they have naturally lost their capacity after a period of use. But it could also be about batteries that have been damaged in connection with vehicles having been exposed to an accident. We know that thermal runaway can then occur in the batteries.
One of the examples that the Coast Guard brought up concerned a transport that had batteries with a weight of 900 kilos. One understands what effect it would have if they were ignited. Furthermore, they were not secured. Anyone who has worked with cargo securing knows what enormous force arises in the event of an accident if material lies completely loose on the deck. Then it can truly become a question of thermal runaway.
MSB writes the following regarding damaged batteries: "Seriously damaged batteries means batteries that are damaged or defective and which are prone to quickly falling apart, reacting dangerously, producing flames or generating dangerous heat development or emitting toxic, corrosive or flammable gases."
The Coast Guard has, as mentioned, warned that they see transports of batteries that for some reason are exhausted or damaged. It is a serious situation. I have worked with these issues throughout my professional life. This could cause a full-scale catastrophe if, for example, it happens on a ferry.
The authorities must be more on their toes than they have been previously. Now it is an authority that is sounding the alarm, and then it is time for the government to act.
Statsrådet Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M)
Mr. Speaker! I thank Thomas Morell for a very important and relevant question and for the contribution. I agree in large parts with what Thomas Morell states.
These are questions to be taken very seriously. After having been in contact with the regulatory authority MSB, my view is that they do. They have had training or information for, among other things, the Coast Guard, and they intend to have an ongoing dialogue with the police regarding the security of this.
One will also contact their Norwegian counterpart. According to the information I have, this is often about flow streams coming from Norway, where there is an aging electric vehicle fleet due to an earlier rollout of electric cars. This means that there are more used batteries to handle, and they are often transported through Sweden because there is still a relatively large value in the batteries. It is therefore important that the marking is done correctly right from the start.
The regulations that exist today are those known as MSBFS 2020:9. There, it is listed how lithium-ion batteries shall be classified, packaged, labeled, and documented during transport by road. The batteries are divided into three categories: new batteries, used batteries transported for recycling, and damaged batteries. They must be labeled in the required manner precisely so that information can be obtained regarding what kind of goods are being transported.
I completely agree that it is a matter to be taken with the utmost seriousness. It is a matter whose relevance will increase over time, because we will not see fewer but rather more transports of this kind as a consequence of us using such batteries in more areas of society. Consequently, the amount of used batteries will increase.
I note that the work must be carried out efficiently and purposefully by the relevant authorities, above all MSB as the regulatory authority as well as the Coast Guard and the Police Authority.
Thomas Morell (SD)
Mr. Speaker! Dangerous goods is, as stated, a term for substances that can be harmful to people, the environment, animals, and so on. Dangerous goods are not actually dangerous if one simply handles them in the correct way, but that presupposes that the transport takes place according to the regulations, that it is labeled, packaged, and secured for transport. The vehicle must be marked so that one can see what it is that is being transported and so that the rescue services can take the correct measures. The driver must also have relevant training and be able to handle this and all transport documents which obviously must be present.
Transport occurs, however, in vehicles that are not marked. They pass as any other truck - whether light or heavy does not matter. One does not know what is on the trailer, and that is when the situation worsens. They can also be loaded onto boats. If such a vehicle comes aboard a boat and has a damaged battery that experiences a thermal runaway while the ship is heading out to sea, one gets a situation that cannot be managed.
This is what is dangerous about the situation. Dangerous goods are not dangerous as long as one does things correctly. But those who engage in just these transports clearly do not have a grasp of what the regulations require and cannot take the measures that are needed.
We had a visit from the traffic police in the committee a couple of weeks ago. We discussed road checks. I asked: How does the statistics look – are you meeting the requirements? Yes, they did. We talked about dangerous goods, among other things. They had carried out the checks that the Police Authority is responsible for. But that concerned the cars with orange signs that they stopped. Those cars are not really interesting. Of course, there can be deficiencies there too, but the majority of these transports follow the regulations. There may be some minor remarks that the police make, but on the whole, they follow the regulations. It is somewhat self-evident with the orange sign.
What was interesting in the reasoning concerned the transports that do not follow the regulations. I asked the police: How many are there, and how many has the police reported? It is those that constitute the great danger. Then we were given the answer that there was no statistics on that. We do not know, therefore, how many there are that fly under the radar with such transports. In any case, alarm bells are ringing for me. It is not just about batteries, but it can be many other substances as well. When one does not have a grip on how many transports occur without the regulations being followed, misfortune is literally lurking around the corner.
I think the government needs to raise the issue a bit more. We have an authority that alerts about situations where vehicles are to drive on boats but the regulations are not followed. They do not signpost as they should, they do not secure the cargo, and the drivers do not have training to handle dangerous goods. All these errors in connection with these transports can lead to accidents occurring that hit innocent people extremely hard. When a thermal runaway occurs in such a battery, a toxic gas is released that is lethal. You do not even need to breathe it in; it is enough that it hits the skin. That is how dangerous this is.
Statsrådet Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M)
Mr. Speaker! I thank Thomas Morell for the contribution. Thomas Morell is, of course, completely right that the largest part of this problem is the transports that occur in violation of the regulations. That is, after all, the core of the matter in this discussion. If one carries out this type of transport of dangerous goods in a way that is not compatible with the regulatory framework, that is to say, violates the regulatory framework, we must, of course, prosecute it. That is where the unserious actors are. But to prosecute crimes and violations against this regulation is not primarily a task for MSB as a regulatory authority, but it is a task for the law enforcement authorities who must, of course, take it very seriously, like so many other tasks.
The question regarding statistics on how many unmarked transports occur should be posed to the Swedish Police Authority. Only they can provide an estimate, possibly together with the Coast Guard, of how frequently one encounters this. Should it turn out that this is a large hidden problem, perhaps one must consider what measures need to be taken to intensify the work against it.
The question of handling transports that occur in violation of regulations and prosecuting these is a matter for our law enforcement authorities rather than for MSB. That is not to say that this is not a problem, on the contrary. I will, for my part, also contact the agency that falls under my responsibility, namely the Coast Guard, to get their view of what this problem looks like and what discoveries are made during, for example, controls in the harbor.
Thomas Morell (SD)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer. Now we have landed on what is the actual problem, namely the controls on the road. The Coast Guard, an agency that falls under the Minister, is sounding the alarm about this situation, which they see as increasing. But when you ask the police, they do not even have statistics on how many are flying under the radar and not performing transports according to the regulations. Here we have, therefore, two different agencies experiencing reality in two different ways, which one might think is a bit confusing, because the cars are still out there on the road.
I shall quote from the article I mention in my interpellation. Jonna Ström, inspector at the Coast Guard, says regarding a truck: "It was loaded with three lithium-ion batteries from Norway with a total weight of approximately 900 kilos, which made the transport with a wide margin a full-fledged ADR transport" – that is, a transport with dangerous goods. "Despite this, everything required according to the ADR regulations was missing, which is why the truck was stopped from continuing its journey."
I think the Coast Guard is doing an absolutely outstanding job. The government needs to listen to the Coast Guard and form an image of how large the problem is and why the police are not signaling the same thing. After all, the transports have arrived at the port. Since the Coast Guard is alerting about an increasing problem that puts people in great danger, there is reason to have a serious discussion with the Coast Guard, raise this issue, and ensure that the police perform checks on the road, so that we get a stop to this market. Those who carry out these transports do not follow the regulations in any way.
Statsrådet Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M)
Mr. Speaker! I largely share the assessment. From my side, it will naturally be relevant to have a continued dialogue with the agency that falls under my responsibility to learn about their experiences. Then we can try to form a broader understanding of how large the problem is. Regardless, we need to keep our eyes on this issue, as I said in my interpellation answer. As a result of the technological shift we are in, including in the transport sector, the occurrence of this type of transport will increase. As the total transport volume increases, the number of unscrupulous actors will likely also increase. It is naturally an issue that must be kept under very close supervision. Just as the interpellator says, there is an extremely large downside in the risks of handling this type of material in an incorrect manner, for example on board passenger ferries.
I thank the interpellor for an important interpellation. We will continue to keep our eyes on this issue.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.