Hi Steve,
We've been shipping such samples back and forth to ourselves  and
receiving them from others over the years. We haven't had any samples
freeze and break that we know of, though some (i.e. a percent or two)
have been broken on arrival. We don't know whether this is due to
freezing during a flight or drop kicking by couriers? This has
happened more frequently in the "regular" post. I would recommend
placing something (cardboard, thin foam, bubble wrap, etc.) between
the rows of bottles to soften their in-box interactions. We haven't
had any leakage problems with crimped vials (Wheaton 20ml serum
vials, teflon-faced gray butyl septa with aluminum tear off sample
ports).

A layer of soft stuff above and below will help insure safe transit
as well. You might want to take the whole lot of the wrapped bottles
and place them in a styrofoam box for a little extra protection?
Hope this helps, and I hope the weather is better in California (-65F
here with windchill today).
Cheers,
Bill

>Hello folks. I need to ship a large batch of 20-ml teflon-seal
>crimped water samples from New Zealand to the United States. They
>represent a long time-series and are therefore non-replaceable. Any
>suggestions or cautions in choosing a means to ship these samples?
>Can they simple be air-shipped via Fed-Ex? I wouldn't expect
>temperature or pressure problems with non-pressurized aircraft, but
>thought I'd ask the collective voices-of-experience rather than cry
>many tears later. Cheers, Stephen
>--
>Stephen A. Schellenberg
>Department of Geological Sciences
>San Diego State University
>5500 Campanile Drive
>San Diego, CA 92182-1020
>
>Cell: 619.787.3217
>Office: 619.594.1039
>Fax: 619.594.4372


--
Dr. William P. Patterson
Associate Professor
Department of Geological Sciences
114 Science Place
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon SK S7N 5E2
Canada
Phone: 306-966-5691(office); 306-966-5712(lab)
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://128.233.87.242/bill.html