Mixed loading: what can travel on one vehicle

Paint, acid and aerosols on one trailer? Usually fine. Fireworks and paint? Not necessarily. Section 7.5.2 of ADR sets out which packages can share a vehicle or container. What counts is the danger labels on the packages, not the name of the substance. Here's how the table works and where the exceptions are.

The principle: labels decide

Packages with different danger labels may not be loaded together in one vehicle or container unless the table in 7.5.2.1 allows it. If a package carries more than one label, all of them count.

The bans apply below the 1.1.3.6 threshold too, when you're running without orange plates. Paragraph 1.1.3.6.2 lifts a lot of duties, but not Chapter 7.5. Limited quantities are different: of 7.5.2, only 7.5.2.4 applies to them. Excepted quantities aren't covered by the bans at all.

What may travel with what

The table from 7.5.2.1, simplified:

Label	Mixed loading allowed with
2.1 to 9	each other without restriction (except 4.1+1 and 5.2+1); with 1.4 packages only if they are 1.4S (footnote a)
1	with 5.1 only under footnote d, with 9 only under footnote b; with other Class 1 goods under 7.5.2.2
1.4	with labels 2.1 to 9 only as 1.4S; with 9 also under footnotes b and c
1.5, 1.6	with 9 only under footnote b
4.1+1	only with 4.1+1
5.2+1	only with 5.2 and 5.2+1

The footnotes:

• a: mixed loading allowed with 1.4S substances and articles.
• b: Class 1 goods may be loaded with Class 9 life-saving appliances (UN 2990, 3072 and 3268).
• c: 1.4G pyrotechnic safety devices (UN 0503) may be loaded with Class 9 electrically initiated safety devices (UN 3268).
• d: blasting explosives (except UN 0083) may be loaded with ammonium nitrate (UN 1942 and 2067), ammonium nitrate emulsion (UN 3375) and alkali and alkaline earth metal nitrates, provided the whole load is treated as Class 1 blasting explosives.

4.1+1 and 5.2+1 mean a package with a 4.1 or 5.2 label plus a model No. 1 label: self-reactive substances and organic peroxides that can explode.

Examples

• Paint (3), hydrochloric acid (8) and aerosols (2.1): can go together. Classes 2 to 9 mix freely with each other.
• Fireworks 1.4G (UN 0336) and paint (3): not allowed. Only 1.4S can travel with labels 2.1 to 9.
• Cartridges for weapons 1.4S (UN 0012) and paint (3): allowed, under footnote a.
• Organic peroxide 5.2+1 and peroxide 5.2: allowed. The same 5.2+1 peroxide with acid (8): not allowed.

Explosives with explosives

When only Class 1 packages are on board, the table that applies is the compatibility group table in 7.5.2.2, not 7.5.2.1. The compatibility group is the letter after the division, for example G in 1.4G. A few rules from it:

• group S goes with every group except A and L,
• group A only with group A,
• group L only with the same type of group L goods,
• groups C, D, E and G can travel together,
• B and D only with effective segregation approved by the competent authority (footnote a to 7.5.2.2).

Containers and limited quantities

• Closed container with complete walls: its contents are ignored when applying the bans to the vehicle. Class 1 is the exception: the bans for packages with labels 1, 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6, and the compatibility group rules, still apply between the container and the rest of the load (7.5.2.3).
• Limited quantities and explosives: loading together with any explosive substances or articles is banned, except Division 1.4 and UN 0161 and UN 0499 (7.5.2.4).

Toxic goods near food

This isn't one of the table bans, but it's also about loading. Where special provision CV28 appears in column (18) of Table A, packages with labels 6.1 or 6.2 and certain Class 9 packages (UN 2212, 2315, 2590, 3151, 3152 and 3245) must not be stacked on or loaded right next to foodstuffs, other articles of consumption or animal feed (7.5.4). If they have to be nearby, separate them with:

• a full partition at least as high as those packages,
• packages without labels 6.1, 6.2 or 9 (or with a Class 9 label for other goods),
• a gap of at least 0.8 m.

Alternatively, the packages get extra packaging or are completely covered, for example with a sheet.

Practise it now

Exam questions on mixed loading usually give you a pair of labels and ask whether they can go together. Our free test has questions like that with explanations. In the app you can mark up a vehicle yourself and practise the orange plates.

Sources

ADR 2025 (UNECE English text): 1.1.3.6.2, 3.4.1, 3.5.1.1, 5.4.1.4.2, 7.5.2.1 to 7.5.2.4 with the table footnotes, 7.5.4 and Table A in Chapter 3.2 (examples UN 0012, 0336, 0503, 3268). This guide explains the basics. When planning a load, the wording of ADR applies.