More and more ship captains are seemingly facing personal prosecutions
The Sri Lankan Attorney General’s office has indicated that there is sufficient evidence to prosecute the Captain of the VLCC, New Diamond, under the country’s marine pollution act as well as the penal code for criminal negligence and pollution charges..
This announcement has seemingly raised concerns in shipping circles about the number of Captains who have recently been held personally responsible for maritime disasters..
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..
Should the Captain of the Wakashio be held responsible for dead dolphins
Any maritime disaster will have severe impact on assets, people and environment.. The effects of the oil spill from the Wakashio is beginning to manifest itself as there have been several reports of dead dolphins washing ashore on the beaches of Mauritius, even as the bow of the ship has been scuttled and sunk about 14 nautical miles of where the incident happened..
The Captain of the Wakashio has been arrested and charged and currently faces a possible 60 year jail term for failing to safely navigate the vessel in Mauritius waters..
What is your opinion..?? Should the Captain of the ship be responsible for this incident and is a possible 60 year jail term (if convicted) justified..??
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..
The Wakashio oil spill in Mauritius – what happened and lessons learnt
The MV Wakashio left China on 14 July, heading for Brazil. The vessel, owned by Nagashiki Shipping and operated by Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd, hit a coral reef, Pointe d’Esny, Mauritius on 25 July, 2020.
What is significant about this incident is that the vessel was carrying 4,000 tonnes of heavy oil, lubricants and diesel, a large amount of which was pumped out but a significant amount still entered into the Indian Ocean.
Here is an overview of what happened, the clean up measures and lessons learnt from this maritime disaster..
Importance of declaring the correct cargo weight
Misdeclaration of container weights has been an issue that has been going on for a long time and has plagued many a shipping line, ship and port operators..
In a recent article, I wrote about the basics of container stowage planning and why it is so important..
In this article, I thought it would be worth reiterating the importance of being accurate in the declaration of the weights..
Insurers share details of webinar on causation of container ship casualties
As I wrote in my previous article about the importance of proper lashing of containers onboard ships, there is increased concern and focus on the safety of the ship, its crew and the cargo..
The concern is especially amplified considering the many maritime disasters that have happened in the last few years, some of which have been reported in detail on this site..
A few of the incidents that involved containers falling of a ship have been attributed to the lashing of containers onboard or lack thereof..
Considering the intense strain that the extent and pace of growth in container volumes has placed on a wide range of operational procedures and the physical hardware employed to handle these volumes, the Thomas Miller managed insurance mutuals, container freight specialist TT Club and protection & indemnity insurer, UK P&I Club organised a Webinar to discuss the diverse range of factors important to safe container ship operations and the security of the container stacks they carry..
Here are the details..
Importance of proper lashing of containers on board ships
Since the inception of containerisation, the shipping container has been used to ship various products around the world.. An estimated 793.26 million TEUs were handled in container ports worldwide in 2019.. As of this article, 23.8 million TEUs are being shipped around the world in 6,136 active container ships.. These containers are being carried on container ships that are increasing in size and capacity year after year..
Naturally, there is increased concern and focus on the safety of the ship, its crew due to the number of containers being carried onboard especially because there have been several maritime disasters in the last few years, some of which have been reported in detail on this site..
A few of the incidents that involved containers falling of a ship have been attributed to the lashing of containers onboard or lack thereof..
We look at the importance of proper lashing of containers onboard ships..
Loss of containers at sea forces temporary closure of Port of Ngqura
The MSC Palak a Portuguese flagged container ship built in 2016 with a carrying capacity of 9,411 TEUs is reported to have lost 23 containers while at anchorage around the Port of Ngqura (Coega) along the Eastern Coast of South Africa..
APL England reaches China for repairs
On the 24th of May 2020, APL England, a container ship experienced a temporary loss of propulsion during heavy seas about 73 kilometres south-east of Sydney causing around 50 containers to fall overboard and leading to the collapse of around 74 containers within the stacks on board the ship..
After much debate and controversy over AMSA’s action holding the master of the ship personally responsible for the incident, the empty APL England was released on 19th of June and allowed to sail from Australia to undertake repairs in China..
The APL England arrived in China (Zhoushan) on the 4th of July and remains under AMSA detention while the vessel undergoes repairs..
APL England released
The APL England, a 5,780 TEU capacity containership which lost around 40 containers off the coast of New South Wales in Australia has been detained in Brisbane by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) since the 26th May..
After AMSA inspectors were satisfied that the ship was fit to sail, the empty APL England was released on 19th of June and allowed to sail from Australia to undertake repairs in China..