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.

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.

Leading Insurance provider to the international freight transport industry, TT Club has published a mid-year trading update for the eight-month period 1 January - 31 August 2015.

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.