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..
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.
Seafarers say enough is enough – ready to down tools
If getting seafarers off these ships causes chaos in supply chains, if ports back up from Singapore to San Francisco, and if this causes ship insurance providers to pull their coverage and global trade to grind to a halt; then that is on the heads of politicians, not the world’s seafarers.
This is the message from Steve Cotton General Secretary of ITF reiterating that Seafarers have done their part in this COVID-19 pandemic, and plenty more. Enough is enough, it is time to go home now.
The importance of declaring correct cargo details and consequences of cargo misdeclaration
Incorrect cargo details, misdeclaration of cargo and its details has been the bane of many shipping lines over the years..
The consequences of cargo and weight misdeclaration were so severe that the IMO had to implement SOLAS VGM regulations..
However there are still several incidents of such cargo misdeclaration including hazardous goods which have caused several maritime disasters..
In this article, Peregrine Storrs-Fox, Risk Management Director of TT Club writes about the importance of declaring correct cargo details and consequences of cargo misdeclaration..
Coronavirus and its legal implications to the shipping and freight industry
Coronavirus has adversely affected the shipping and freight industry and global trade as a consequence.. Here we look at some of the legal implications of this epidemic..
Misdeclared cargo and its investigation route – Yantian Express fire
On the 3rd of Jan 2019, part of the Yantian Express a 7,510 TEU, 320m German-flagged ship of Hapag Lloyd went up in flames while on its way from Colombo to Halifax via the Suez Canal..
The Bundesstelle für Seeunfalluntersuchung (BSU) or Federal Bureau of Maritime Casualty Investigation undertook an investigation on the fire on board and the results have been released..
This investigation report demonstrates that it is not all that easy to pinpoint the exact cause and reason for such incidents but it does a great job in identifying certain possibilities and also finding out other information in the meantime.. Truly interesting..
The route to the conclusions reached by the investigators is very interesting to read and shows the many important considerations that are required when preparing your cargo for export..
Maersk Honam becomes Maersk Halifax
Like the proverbial Phoenix rising from the ashes, Maersk Honam has a new lease on life as Maersk Halifax.. As has been reported quite elaborately here, on the 6th of March 2018, Maersk Honam, one of Maersk’s ultra-large container ships caught fire in the Arabian Sea between India’s West Coast and Oman while en-route from Singapore to Egypt..
Five crew members perished in this incident which was one of several maritime disasters which have container ships in recent history..
Yantian Express – More than 200 containers still without GA and Salvage security
A final update on Yantian Express.. The fire stricken vessel finally sailed Halifax on the 2nd of June 2019 after discharging all the containers on board..
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..