Global groups to collaborate on container safety improvements
Five international freight transport and cargo handling organisations are collaborating on the production of new guidance on packing standards for freight containers and other cargo transport units. The Container Owners Association, the Global Shippers Forum, the International Cargo Handling Co-ordination Association, the TT Club and the World Shipping Council are co-operating on a range of activities to further the adoption … Read more here..
What is Dangerous Goods Declaration and who should submit it..??
The safe carriage of Dangerous Goods requires several considerations, processes of approval, acceptance, carriage protocols and documentation..
For the shipping line/carriers, while containerisation brought along ease of handling cargo, it also brought about the headache of not knowing WHAT IS INSIDE THE CONTAINER..
Carriers have no way of knowing what is inside the container and depend on the STC and SLAC information provided by the shipper..
For dangerous goods, this cargo information is provided to the carrier in the form of the Dangerous Goods Declaration..
Tracking hazardous cargo misdeclarations in real time
Cargo misdeclaration is nothing new to shipping and has been continuing for years especially in containerised shipments for various reasons..
Apart from the loss of millions of dollars worth of goods and assets, such misdeclarations also result in maritime disasters which have a huge impact on the environment and the loss of life (human or otherwise)..
There are enough examples of the consequences due to misdeclarations both in misdeclaration in weight and/or misdeclaration of hazardous content..
To tackle the scourge of weight misdeclaration, IMO and other stakeholders imposed the requirement of SOLAS VGM which came into effect in July 2016..
While life after SOLAS VGM seems to be hunky-dory and no major incidents have directly attributed to weight misdeclarations, hazardous cargo misdeclaration still seems to be rampant and several shipping lines are “gatvol” of these misdeclarations and have imposed severe financial penalties on the defaulters..
ZIM recently developed and implemented an innovative AI-based screening software to detect and identify incidents of misdeclared hazardous cargo before loading to vessel..
What are the major reasons for misdeclared or undeclared dangerous goods?
In the past few years, we have seen a large number of maritime disasters such as catastrophic fires onboard ships mostly due to misdeclared and undeclared dangerous goods.
Some of the vessels which had major fires in the year 2019 are Yantian Express, APL Vancouver, E.R. Kobe, Grande America, KMTC Hong Kong, APL Le Havre.
Most of the cases involving leakage, fires, cargo damage is linked to undeclared, misdeclared or poorly packed containers.
Pitfalls of digitalisation in shipping and freight
Digitisation, Digitalisation, Digital Transformation are some buzz words that have recently taken the shipping and freight industry by storm..
Let’s take a quick look at what these terms mean and what it is all about..
While Digitalisation is inevitable in the industry, there are also some pitfalls and you can read about the pitfalls and how to avoid it here..
Shipping lines get tough on dangerous goods misdeclaration
Gatvol (ˈxʌtˌfɒl) is a commonly used South African term meaning “fed up” or “I have had it up to here”.. This is seems to be the mood in the Hapag Lloyd camp as they recently announced hefty fines for misdeclaration of dangerous goods..
Undeclared hazardous goods said to be the cause of KMTC HongKong fire
On the 25th of May 2019, a fire broke out on board the KMTC HongKong, at the Laem Chabang port in Thailand.. It was reported that 35 containers were on board when the ship caught fire..
Thailand Port Authority has been quoted as saying that undeclared hazardous cargo is the cause of the fire on board the KMTC HongKong..
Oops it happened again – another container ship on fire..!!
2019 seems to be fast becoming the year of maritime disasters.. There have been several maritime disasters one after the other in the recent years, especially in 2019.. In the latest incident on the 25th of May, a fire broke out on board a container ship KMTC Hong Kong, at the Laem Chabang port in Thailand..
It has been reported that a fire erupted on the ship triggering a blast which left at least 25 workers suffering from smoke inhalation and other injuries, forcing officials to evacuate workers and temporarily close three piers..
Tips for Safe and Effective Shipping of Potentially Hazardous Materials
Many business owners jump straight into nationwide and international shipments — even with potentially hazardous goods.
Yet, with your venture being liable if things go wrong, it’s necessary to continually look for ways to ensure packages arrive at their destination safely and effectively.
Here are some tips you can follow over the coming months to help you with this.
MSC accepts all costs for cleanup of MSC Zoe containers overboard – update 06.01.2019
MSC has reassured authorities and members of the public in the Netherlands and Germany that the company will pay the full costs of the clean-up of the 2 January MSC Zoe container spill..
MSC Zoe containers overboard – update 05.01.2019
Here is an update as of 05.01.2019 about the status of the MSC Zoe and the over 270 odd containers that went overboard..