TT Club, the leading international transport, freight and logistics insurance provider, has appointed Justin Reynolds as Regional Claims Director, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Based in London, he will be responsible for handling member's claims across the EMEA region.

Over the past year much has been written about changes to Maritime legislation to improve safety and to minimise the risk of containers being damaged or lost at sea. There is also work on amendments to international standards concerning containers. What's the impact?

Cargo fraud and theft impacts everyone in the international supply chain. A buyer of cargo needs the same assurances as the provider of logistics services, who relies on others for contract fulfilment. These risks consistently are amongst the top five incidents seen by the TT Club that collectively account for about 2/3 of claims through the supply chain.

When one looks at Road and Rail Risks in North America, there are many different regulations and time limits to be aware of depending on the type and location of transport.

A detailed analysis of the root causes of insurance claims show 80% of bodily injuries at global ports and container terminals involve handling equipment or vehicles. Speaking at the Philippine Ports and Shipping Conference in Manila today, TT Club's Asia Pacific Regional Director, Phillip Emmanuel emphasised the statistic and urged operators to improve their management practices in order to reduce the incidents which result in injury and sadly sometimes death to workers and others at ports and terminals.

TT Club, the leading international transport, freight and logistics insurance provider, has appointed Kevin King as Regional Director Europe, Middle East and Africa. Based in London, he will be responsible for overseeing Member service and business development across EMEA for the TT Club.

The founding vision for the CINS Organisation, to highlight risks posed by certain cargoes and packing failures in order to improve safety in the liner shipping industry, has continued to demonstrate value through 2014. The last year has proved to be one of substantial consolidation of the data capture capability, increasing the authority with which the organisation can address issues arising in the industry.

The ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles and Oakland are jammed with ships waiting to unload containers. The US Coast Guard warned shipping lines 10 days ago that they should be prepared to make alternate mooring arrangements or expect that the ship will need to remain at sea until safe anchorage space becomes available. There are currently some 19 container ships in the Long Beach harbour waiting for a berth.

The International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code governs the processes by which classified cargoes may be transported by sea. It is updated every two years and each amendment may, effectively, be used for a maximum period of three years. All amendments prior to Amendment 36-12 are no longer valid - if you are using an older amendment, it is strongly recommended that you upgrade to Amendment 37-14 which entered transitional effect on 1 January 2015.

At the British International Freight Association (BIFA) Annual Awards Lunch in London last week, the global freight insurance specialist, TT Club was itself presented with an honorary award in recognition of the Club's twenty-five year support of the event. In addition the Club sponsored the European Logistics Award and played its part in selecting the winner from a wide-range of entries.

The TT Club, the leading international transport, freight and logistics insurance provider, warns that companies in the supply chain sector do not understand their costs and liabilities as cybercrime continues to increase.

A fundamental building block for safety at any site is enforcing good site induction procedures. No visitor should enter a facility without receiving a proper safety induction. Further, employees and contractors deserve parallel safety treatment and enforcement. Following on from TT Talk 186 on this topic, one port here recounts its experience. The TT Club welcomes this contributed article from Port Otago Limited, who have insured with the Club for three decades.