Top Maritime Trends of 2020: Tackling the Scourge of Containership Fires
The proliferation of serious fires onboard container ships in recent years has shocked the shipping industry. Here we examine the causes and impact of such fires and the urgent efforts being made by a wide variety of stakeholders to solve this seemingly intractable problem.Over the last decade there has been a 70% fall in ship total losses[1]. This has been widely credited to long term improvements in ship safety management and loss prevention programs. Counter to this trend, there has been a substantial increase in the number of fires in containers carried onboard container and RoRo ships.
Maersk Amends Dangerous Goods Stowage Rules
Aiming to further improve safety practices in stowage of dangerous cargo aboard container vessels, Maersk has completed implementation of new guidelines on dangerous goods stowage.After a thorough review of current safety practices and policies in the stowage of dangerous cargo, Maersk has now completed implementation of new guidelines to improve safety across its container vessel fleet, said a press release from the company.Following the tragic fire aboard Maersk Honam in March this year, Maersk took measures and implemented additional preliminary guidelines for stowage of dangerous goods. The company evaluated over 3,000 United Nations…
Maersk: New Cargo Guidelines After Containership Fire
Maersk has implemented new guidelines on dangerous goods stowage that aim to improve safety practices across its fleet in the wake of the fire aboard containership Maersk Honam that killed five crewmembers earlier this year.Following the deadly fire, Maersk evaluated more than 3,000 United Nations (UN) numbers of hazardous materials in order to further understand and improve dangerous cargo stowage on board container vessels and developed a new set of principles called Risk Based Dangerous Goods Stowage.Together with the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)…
Poor Container Packing Costing Industry Millions
CTUpack e-learningTM course launched to combat bad practice in warehouses and other packing facilities. Analysis by specialist transport and logistics insurer TT Club has revealed that as many as two thirds of accidents that involve the loss of, or damage to, containerised cargo are thought to be caused by poor or improper packing and securing. Such a finding is echoed by the ocean carriers’ Cargo Incident Notification System (CINS), where a third of incidents investigated were found to have this cause.
Standards of Container Packing Must Be Improved
It is no surprise that the correct packing of containers is high on the agenda for industry bodies, regulators and insurers, as the consequences of unsafe and badly secured cargo are serious. In fact, of all freight transport insurer TT Club’s claims, some 65 percent feature cargo loss or damage and of these over one-third result from poor packing. Higher levels of training to maintain and improve the expertise of those employed by shippers, consolidators, warehouses and depots to pack containers is now a primary objective of a number of current industry initiatives.
