The shipping industry has been horrified to hear of the tragic incident that occurred in Tianjin. The cause of the original fire and subsequent explosions remain uncertain, but seem to reflect a usual chain of events that start with economic opportunity, misunderstandings and compromised standards, undermining measures for control or prevention.
At the start of 2021, there was great optimism following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through 2020. Countries grappling with its challenges took varying measures to control the spread of the virus and in doing so continued to unbalance trade flows, volumes and equipment availability. The development of several vaccines were welcome news and industry attention quickly switched to how to deliver such an invaluable cargo to every corner of the globe.
Cargo securing is not only relevant to ESG because the international maritime industry incurs losses of about $6 billion each year because of incorrectly packed or documented cargo (TT Club 2021) but also because of the consequences of additional CO2 emissions generated for the reworks of damage products and subsequent additional shipments.
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.
Apart from the recent devastating explosion in Beirut, there has been a spate of ro-ro/car carrier fires in recent months, leading to fresh calls for improvements, scrutiny and control in relation to dangerous goods (DG). Container ship fires are always in mind.
TT Club and Cordstrap invite you to join us for a webinar focusing on the importance of securing cargo in freight containers, on Thursday 2 May at 09:00.
This first webinar in our ship fire series focuses on specific issues relating to the cargo loaded on board, looking into practices to combat non-declaration and mis-declaration, as well as profiling the risk-based stowage approach.
