At the British International Freight Association (BIFA) Annual Awards Lunch in London last month, the global freight insurance specialist, TT Club presented the European Logistics Award to UK-based, independent freight forwarder The PSL Group.

Despite publicity about the amendment to SOLAS (International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea) requiring that all packed containers have verified gross mass (VGM) stretching back at least five years, many parts of the industry have waited to the eleventh hour before putting individual and collaborative minds to the issue of implementation. With less than five months to mandatory global enforcement on 1 July 2016, it is critical for all stakeholders to engage now.

Now gripped in the headlights of impending mandatory enforcement of the requirements to provide and use verified gross mass (VGM) data for packed containers, many parts of the stakeholder community appear uncertain of how this can work out globally. Each link in the chain needs to take individual responsibility for their own scope of activity and engage with others to enhance the integrity of the whole supply chain. Many national competent authorities and industry players appear to lack thought leadership.

International freight insurance provider, TT Club has been enthusiastically supporting the Seahorse Club journalist awards for some years. The Awards are specifically for journalists active in the shipping, freight transport and logistics arena. At the 2015 Awards Presentation the Club again sponsored what it considers to be a significant award category, 'The Newcomer of the Year', which was won by Joe Lo from the magazine Container Management.

The cargo handling industry's representative body launches a safety award, sponsored by specialist insurance provider TT Club, to highlight innovation in improving safety standards in cargo logistics around the world.

Coiled materials covers a variety of materials of differing densities, but all present the shipper with the fundamental issues of how to ensure that the cargo itself arrives at the destination without damage, at the same time as avoid damage to the cargo transport unit (CTU) and anyone or thing adjacent to it during transit. Improperly secured coil materials can have catastrophic and fatal consequences. New industry guidance is now available.

The International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) was first adopted a little over a century ago, albeit that version never entered into force due to the First World War. Now a central pillar for international maritime safety, under the custody of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a number of new amendments entered into force with effect from 1 January 2016.

Today, the World Shipping Council (WSC), the TT Club, the International Cargo Handling Coordination Association (ICHCA), and the Global Shippers' Forum (GSF) jointly released a new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document to address issues arising from the new container weighing regulations due to take effect globally on 1 July 2016. The amendments to the SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) Convention require packed shipping containers to have a verified gross mass (VGM) before they can be loaded on a ship for export.

Those involved in international carriage should be well aware that the law applicable to a contract and the jurisdiction in which disputes are to be decided often have a significant bearing on the outcome of a case. This is so for both the substantive determination of liability or remedy, as well as procedural matters, such as commencement of proceedings, disclosure, timelines and costs. A recent UK Supreme Court is exemplary.

As the supply chain industry globally is gearing up to comply with the SOLAS amendment that, from 1 July 2016, requires verified gross mass for every packed container, it is worth reiterating that container weight is just one (relatively small) part of ramping up safety.

The global freight transport insurer is encouraging supply chain stakeholders to understand better the interrelationship of the various functions in the intermodal network, particularly in the United States where one effect of the enlarged Panama Canal will be to increase importers' routing options in order to supply internal markets

Essentially the diversion of a payment, mandate fraud is a long standing practice, the existence of which has been exposed in recent years due to a number of high profile cases as well as the proliferation of the use of the internet to facilitate payments.