When things go wrong, an incident occurs, there inevitably is a response. The degree of severity will generally be commensurate with the diligence in creating, documenting, reviewing, testing and communicating a response plan - hopefully.
An important aspect of emergency response planning is understanding your own limitations, together potentially with those of the responding or other external agencies. All this is part of thorough risk assessment, effective plan documentation and execution.
Albert Einstein is quoted as saying 'information is not knowledge'. The challenge today is to translate all the data points into clear learning that brings improvement.
How often is a deficiency found but not acted upon, or an incident occurs, and it is not reported? Loss and near miss reporting has always been a thorny topic, but needs to rise above issues of corporate and national culture.
The recent reports of container ship fires has once more focussed those in the container supply chain on safety issues related to the incorrect processing of dangerous goods. The nascent Cargo Integrity campaign initiated by the international transport and logistics insurer, TT Club has as a consequence gained renewed impetus.
Whilst perishable cargo is often valuable freight, it can also give rise to higher exposures, which should provide adequate incentive for extra care to be taken by all stakeholders.
In collaboration with UK P&I Club, TT Club has developed a new StopLoss publication which considers the risk exposures associated with the transport of temperature controlled cargo through the global supply chain and provides guidance as to how to avoid losses.
A recent Supreme Court decision seeks to lay to rest the way that the burden of proof may pass and be discharged under the Hague Rules, reversing the Court of Appeal decision. This is an update from the earlier report.
The problem of uncollected cargo is a perennial problem for NVOCC operators, often resulting in considerable bills on warehousing, container demurrage, and disposal costs. Apart from anything else, there is a significant drain on management resource to bring resolution.
