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SARC automates DG checks

[ October 6, 2021   //   ]

Netherlands-based maritime software developer SARC has released a validation tool for shipping dangerous goods by sea. The SARC EDI-IMDG Validator can operate without any predefined ship geometry and is based on a schematic bay plan and allows ship owners, lines, crew and port authorities to improve safety at lower effort.

If a vessel sails with dangerous cargo, international rules require the load to be verified for compliance with the latest IMDG code (International Maritime Dangerous Goods). Each transported substance needs to be checked for conflicts with all other transported substances and the position of its Cargo Transport Unit on the vessel needs to be validated.

The tool can read a load from an EDI or Baplie message. (A Baplie message is a widely–usedEDIFACT message used in shipping to advise on stowage positions of cargo on vessels). It checks the compliance of the load with the latest IMDG amendment. It is also possible to check a manually entered load. Once a load is imported, the operator can refine details of the load that were not available in the imported data, for example if a substance is in limited or excepted quantity. The tool performs segregation checks between all CTU’s, verifies stowage comments and labels for each individual CTU and validates the CTU data.

Manual checks can be very time-consuming and in practice a check will often be performed on a sample check basis. The EDI-IMDG Validator takes over most of the work and does a complete check of all combinations and points to possible segregation conflicts or stowage issues for further review.

The EDI-IMDG Validator uses the Hazcheck Toolkit from dangerous goods compliance specialist Exis Technologies.

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