Dangerous goods movement procedure in South African ports
Dangerous goods (also referred to as Hazardous Cargo) means the substances, materials and articles that are covered by the IMDG Code and is cargo that is considered to be hazardous because of its flammable, corrosive, poisonous nature or other properties..
Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) is the division of Transnet Limited mandated to control and manage all eight commercial ports on the 2954km South African coastline..
The ports covered are
- Richards Bay
- Durban
- Port Elizabeth
- Ngqura
- East London
- Mossel Bay
- Cape Town &
- Saldanha Bay
TNPA has released procedures for movement of hazardous cargoes in port areas, classing dangerous goods for stay within the port..
You can view the notice from TNPA here..Â
The attached notice highlights clearly
- cargoes that must exit the terminal without delay (direct to rail/road truck from ship or direct to ship from rail/road truck) and
- cargo that must be landed and removed (clear the port as soon as possible)
Following these procedures are very important from a port and customers perspective so that necessary handling and transport arrangements maybe made in order for the cargo to be cleared, released and transported safely and within the safety standards..
You can also read other articles related to Dangerous Goods on this blog..
Hi there,
thank you for a very informative blog, its really great to keep up with all the articles, they are all very interesting.
my view relates to the Hazardous goods. I work for a company that manufactures a product (very prominent in its industry) and we Export a fair amount of Hazardous product. I myself went on the IMDG and IATA training last year, to keep myself informed of all the regulations etc… as would be the responsible attitude to take.
However all good an well, I find that the shipping lines are very “irregular” with their demands of information for Hazchem requests. They are never consistent and keep changing the rules to suit themselves. I find that each shipping line will change their minds depending on what kind of mood they’re in to accept my cargo. We are seriously compliant with the regulation and I find it extremely unfair that they are making things so difficult. I know the regulation, I never fail to refer to my manuals regardless, and take this very seriously.
I wish they would all come to the party and all have the same std requirement needed for shipping of Hazardous goods.
thx
SP
Hello SP, thanks for your compliments about my blog.. Also thank you for raising your concerns..
All shipping lines should be guided by the requirements and provisions of SOLAS 74, Chapter VII (Carriage of Dangerous Goods); MARPOL 73/78, Annex III; and IMDG Code, Chapter 5.4..
The IMDG Code book in its Chapter 5.4 gives an example of the Multimodal Dangerous Goods Form that should be used during the transport of Dangerous Goods and as long as the shipper is able to provide the information required by this form, then the line should have no reason to reject the DG.. You can download a generic version of this form here..
However, the shipping line maybe restricted in a lot of cases by the physical space on board a ship for Dangerous Goods as none of the ships can carry unlimited DG.. But in general, if the above requirements are met, the lines should not have any issues.. I can only say that various shipping lines are probably reacting to various incidents relating to the carriage of hazardous cargoes that have happened over the years.. Almost all of the lines have had their share of experiences and issues surrounding the carriage of hazardous cargoes..
Shippers, Forwarders, Transporters, Packing Warehouses may also have to take a share of the blame of the delays because a lot of them DO NOT provide the full information required by the shipping line on the DG Request in the first instance.. If the information is not in time, the communication will go back and forth till the shipping line or the vessel operator gets the information they want and they are justified in checking all the info until they are satisfied about the information..
So both sides have to play the game as the safety of the cargo, ship and crew affect both parties equally..
You can read about the generic hazardous request and acceptance process in my article “Carriage of dangerous goods by sea – documentation requirements“..