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.

TT Club's experience is that theft remains firmly in the top five claims causes, accounting for about 13% by number and value over the last five years. Much recent attention has been focused on the emerging risk of cybercrime, as internet capabilities are increasingly used to identify, track and intercept cargo. However, case studies abound for the more traditional vulnerabilities, even if potentially aided by electronic means.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones as they are more commonly known, have been in existence for decades in various guises. In recent years, however, the technology has developed more rapidly and is being trialled within new areas of practice.

3D printing - also known as additive manufacturing (AM) - is a process of manufacturing virtually any three dimensional object from either an existing model or an electronic data source. Such equipment was first developed in the 1980's so in itself is not new. However, in recent years rapid development has moved it form the laboratory to the marketplace.

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.

The recent tragic events in Tianjin have amply shown the importance of correct and effective segregation of dangerous goods. But those involved in the movement of dangerous goods have far more to consider, and the industry as a whole should make a sanguine risk assessment of all aspects of the supply chain to engender safety.

TT Club has for many years made available various model conditions to support Members' activities. The range of available conditions has recently been supplemented with revised Standard Trading Conditions for Freight Forwarders for operators in Australia to take into account various legislative developments.

The regime governing maintenance and inspection of ships' lifting appliances (SLA) has been found less than adequate, resulting in incidents that should have been avoidable. Legislative change will take time; in the meantime, operators and supervisors need to take care. See

It is not uncommon during terminal operations - in the yard and on the ship - for the spreader, or the container attached thereto, to collide with stacked containers. Often resulting from operator error, such incidents can be extremely costly and cause serious operational difficulties. This is another hazard which has now been effectively engineered out through the development of stack profiling technology.

Boom anti-collision electronic sensor technology has been readily available for use on quay cranes for a number of years. The introduction of such technology has undoubtedly been a positive development in terms of both safety and mitigating potential losses.

The simplicity of the revision to mandate verification of gross mass is typical of the nature of the 'box'. There are multiple parties who bear levels of responsibility to ensure that the venture is successful, many of whom have little perception of all the other parties and how they may rely on each other. Weighing may be more than first meets the eye.