THE World Shipping Council (WSC) in its 2020
report shows that an average of 779 containers were lost at sea in the
three-year period between 2017 and 2019, down from the yearly average loss of
1,382 containers in the twelve-year period (2008-2019).
With more than 5,000 container vessels in operation and
about 789 million TEU being handled in ports worldwide, the container trade, an
extraordinary globalisation tool, accounts for nearly 18 per cent of the total
seaborne trade, according to marine insurance P&I Club News.
Catastrophic events such as sinking or grounding of vessels
account for half of the containers lost, but still the container trade
community's ambition is to fight the multiple causes for containers falling
overboard. Semi-submerged containers are a threat to safety of crew and vessels
and are also a danger to marine life.
Misdeclaration of weight, improper packing of cargo,
improper stowage as per ship's Cargo Securing Manual (CSM), twist
locks issues or maintenance of the containers are important risk factors.
Being aware of this multifaced threat, the container trade
industry itself, in cooperation with government bodies and shipper
associations, has continuously worked on addressing the problem. These include
several initiatives at an international level aimed at improving the
international standards under SOLAS, ISO and the CTU Code and have already
reshaped the risks and contributed to lowering the risk.
In order to fight misdeclaration of cargo,
changes to SOLAS came into effect on July 1, 2016, requiring verification of
container weights (VGM) before containers can be loaded onboard.
As per an IMO proposal more loss prevention work is to be
done also on the shipowner's side as an alignment of the Safe Container
Convention (CSC) and ISO 1496-1 container stacking strength
requirements is needed.
Inspection of the securing equipment onboard: In a recent
case, a vessel lost nearly 50 containers and the investigations revealed that
lashing arrangements were inadequate and that the securing points for
containers were heavily corroded.
The WSC report recommends the frequent
inspection of the lashing equipment and sockets.
"Reject damaged containers and observe stevedore's
routines to make sure that securing equipment is handled well and returned to
the vessel. Avoid using a mix of manual and semi-automatic twist locks and
avoid storing left and right-hand twist locks together," the report added.
Rolling, parametric forces and stowage planning are key
elements in loss prevention. In July 2018, a vessel lost 81 containers
overboard in very rough seas, and on January 1, 2019 a vessel lost 342
containers. In both cases the forces generated during sudden, heavy rolling
placed excessive stress on the containers. This resulted in structural failure
of containers and components of the lashing system.
Source : HKSG.
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