Container Safety

A spate of recent high-profile accidents aboard vessels carrying containers has heightened fears about the safety and security of containerised cargoes.

This year alone fires have occurred aboard the 9,200teu APL Vancouver, Hapag-Lloyd’s 7,510teu Yantian Express and most recently the Grimaldi con-ro vessel Grande America, while last year five crew members tragically died after the15,226teu Maersk Honam, caught fire and sank. In addition, some 280 boxes were lost overboard from the 19,224teu MSC Zoe in early January.

As a result, Maersk Line has just announced the beginning of a Physical Container Inspection Pilot within North America whereby it will perform spot-checks on random import and export cargoes at several of its US terminals.

Maersk warned that “if a container is discovered to be inadequately stuffed, lashed and secured, or found to contain mismatching cargo compared to the given declaration” the container might have to be reworked at the shipper or consignee’s cost before onward transportation, or refused carriage altogether.

Incorrect stuffing of containers that allows contents to shift, for example during parametric rolling of the ship in heavy seas, is thought to be one contributing cause of container stack collapses, along with other factors such as improper lashing and securing, excessive vessel speed or faulty stowage plans. Attempts were made in July 2016 to reduce the latter through introduction of mandatory VGM (Verified Gross Mass) weighing of containers to avoid misdeclaration of their weights.

However, the spontaneous breakout of fires aboard containerships is now being seen as even bigger threat to the lives of seafarers and safety of both cargoes and ships, especially with the increasing size of liner vessels making potential conflagrations more difficult to avoid.

The spotlight has turned in particular on the carriage of hazardous materials in containers following the Grande America fire and sinking in mid-March. Although the accident enquiry is not yet complete the fire reportedly started in an on-deck container, and cargoes included sulphuric acid and hydrochloric acid, both of which can be subject to chemical reactions producing explosive and flammable gas.

An earlier landmark accident was the 2012 fire aboard the MSC Flaminia, which tragically killed three seafarers and destroyed several thousand boxes. In September last year, New York District Court finally attributed cause and blame in the case: it found that the chemical DVB (Divinylbenzene) in a container had been the subject of polymerization – a form of self-reaction, creating heat and flammable gas that can be ignited by a spark – after the box had been shipped and left outside overly long during the hot summer period. MSC was absolved of all blame, which was shared between the DVB manufacturer and shipper.

The IMO last year amended its IMDG (International Maritime Dangerous Goods) Code to better address the DVB risk, and new joint industry guidelines for the carriage of DVB in containers were published by CINS, the International Group of P&I (Protection & Indemnity) Clubs and through-transport insurer the TT Club in January 2019. The TT Club will also be spearheading a pan-industry campaign for greater container safety, focusing on hazardous goods.

The International Union of Marine Insurers (IUMI) also spoke out on the subject at its Winter Meeting in early February. “A number of onboard fires are caused by mis-declared cargo and improperly shipped hazardous material,” said IUMI President Richard Turner. “Carrier alliances are adding more complexity to this growing concern as one shipping line will be carrying another’s cargoes and relying on their performance to vet and screen cargoes.

“Initiatives from organisations such as the National Cargo Bureau, to inspect a sample of inbound containers arriving from US ports from several carriers that are members of the Cargo Incident Notification System, as well as Maersk recently announcing random container inspections, are steps in the right direction,” he added.

IUMI says it believes there is “need for greater transparency over cargo carried on ships; the accumulation of values needs to be recognised and quantified, and more adequate protection should be made available to guard against and to fight onboard fires.”

Watch this space!

Published On: 10 April, 2019