$dbh_ship = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:db_name:localhost",
                       "user", "passwd", \%attr ) 
    || die "Could not connect to database: " . DBI->errstr;
$sql_str_ship = "SELECT * FROM shipping WHERE street1='' ORDER BY ship_id";
$sth_ship = $dbh_ship->prepare($sql_str_ship);
$sth_ship->execute();

while (@shipping = $sth_ship->fetchrow_array()) {
   # and so forth....