[130612.EN.SEA] GL Holds Container Ship Forum To Discuss Trends And Challenges

HAMBURG- based Germanischer Lloyd (GL), a technical supervisory organisation, recently held a forum to examine the latest developments in container stowage and transport and to see how operators can remain competitive with added flexibility in container stowage at a time when the market is tight.

Fifty representatives from the container industry attended the forum and were shown how with GL they could re-examine standard practices and maximise their ability to respond to the demands of the market, BYM Marine & Maritime News reported.

GL was the first classification society to introduce rules for container stowage and lashing, according to Holger Jefferies, the company's head of research and rule development, who recently returned from living for eight years in Shanghai. He said those rules have been continually updated since their introduction, most recently in 2012, and are the subject of a yearly examination by a technical committee.

Mr Jeffries laid out some of the relevant rules, both from GL and international organisations, and looked to the current challenges for the container industry. Over capacity, high fuel prices, and the cascading effect of extremely large vessels entering the market, means that maximizing capacity while maintaining loading flexibility, were essential to staying competitive.

The forum also looked into the spate of container lock failures in 2005 and 2006 which led experts at GL to launch an ongoing investigation into the causes of such incidents. The investigation resulted in the development of a guideline for the testing procedure of fully automatic locks (FALs).

The growing use of flexitanks - flexible plastic tanks designed to enable the transport of bulk liquids inside a standard TEU - was also discussed. The forum was told that in the absence of permissible filling criteria, there was potential for damage not only to the container enclosing the flexitank but the goods transported alongside. 

Buckling of the side wall of the enclosing container could result in the collapse of stacked containers, due to the weakening of the container frame. GL's calculations indicated that, even in the best case scenarios, filling levels have to be considered carefully.

Source : SN-TR, 06.06.12.