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Box ship fires are everyone’s problem, says TT Club

[ November 10, 2022   //   ]

TT Club is calling for everyone in the supply chain to take responsibility for container ship fires. With serious fires occurring every 60 days on average, the freight and logistics insurer is once more urging a more comprehensive approach to halting the trend.

“There were significant lessons coming from the sad incident on the MSC Flaminia, which cost the lives of three seafarers, particularly from the subsequent legal proceedings that adjudged the shipper and NVOC responsible for root cause errors,” says TT’s Peregrine Storrs-Fox. “Despite the biennial updates to the IMDG Code, including multiple arising from this particular incident, the judge’s assessment that the regulations merely set the ‘baseline’ for good practice remains utterly true today.”

The mandatory IMDG Code is a minimum standard for all those shipping dangerous goods by sea, but the judgment in the MSC Flaminia case made it clear that regulations merely set the baseline, he says.  “This is an important statement to which any entity inclined to rely solely on the letter of the law when consigning dangerous goods, would do very well to pay heed,” comments Storrs-Fox.

TT Club says that errors, misunderstandings, misdeclarations and inadequate packing and securing lie at the heart of many incidents, both at sea and in warehouses. Sellers, buyers, packers, warehouse operators, forwarders, logistics companies, carriers of all kinds, cargo handlers, terminal operators and shippers all have a duty of care. Accurate classification and declaration are critical to improve certainty of outcome from end to end. This requires truth as much as awareness of regulations and sound safety practices.

Along with its sister insurer, the UK P&I Club, TT Club has recently up-dated its guideline publication, ‘Book it Right, Pack it Tight’. This provides key insights for all involved in dangerous goods’ shipments, including a clear exposé of the more technical aspects of the IMDG Code.

While the IMO/ILO/UNECE Code of Practice for Packing of Cargo Transport Units (CTU Code) remains non-mandatory international law, it is clearly referenced from the IMDG Code. This has been recently updated and assists those responsible for packing containers, accurately declaring details of their contents in order to access the guidance contained in the voluminous CTU Code itself more easily. There is also a useful checklist of actions required, which along with the Quick Guide is available in multiple languages.

TT’s continues with a series of Webinars early in 2023 on the subject of container ship fires and the on-going efforts to prevent them. 

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