The London P&I Club has continued to see cargo damage claims arising from the carriage of dry chemicals in Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers (FIBCs), more commonly known as “jumbo bags”, which have been stowed in the same holds as breakbulk cargoes. FIBCs have a body of a flexible woven material (typically polypropylene) and is intended for shipping solid materials in powder, flake or granular form.
These claims are almost always on voyages in which handy sized bulk carriers load breakbulk cargoes in China. The stowage plan often appears to have been developed with only the discharge port rotation in mind. Continue reading “London Club sees cargo damage claims from the carriage of dry chemicals in FIBCs”
Recently published, the annual Port State Control (PSC) report from ClassNK reveals that in 2022 a total of 1,214 detainable deficiencies were reported and 313 detentions were made. Issues around fire safety topped the list and worryingly show a big increase over the previous year.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has issued this safety advisory notice to inform the public and raise awareness of the risks involved in the transportation of electric vehicles (EVs) powered by installed lithium batteries that may have been damaged due to submersion in waters during extreme weather events. When transported in commerce, EVs containing these damaged batteries may present particularly significant hazards to the public, including property damage, injury, and even death. Our intention with this notice is to prevent those things from happening. 
The aim of the tenth edition of this book is to provide those involved in handling shipping disputes with an overview of the key issues relevant to multiple jurisdictions. As with previous editions of The Shipping Law Review, we begin with cross-jurisdictional chapters looking at the latest developments in important areas for the shipping industry, including international trade sanctions, ocean logistics, offshore, piracy, shipbuilding, ports and terminals, marine insurance, environmental and regulatory issues, decommissioning and ship finance.
At a special event to mark UK Maritime Safety Week event, a demonstration of man overboard recovery techniques highlighted how little time there is to effect a successful rescue.
The Black Sea MoU has published its Annual Report on Port State Control in the Black Sea region, covering the period between 1st January and 31st December 2022.
The Paris MoU has published its 2022 Annual Report, which provides an overview of its activities and statistics for last year. According to the report ship inspections have normalised compared to the two previous years. Inspections could be carried out again at a level that is customary for the Paris MoU.
For the first time, the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is bringing a TV audience a behind-the-scenes documentary series. The new series, Coastguard: Every Second Counts, which rund for six episodes will air on Sunday 2 July at 9pm on Channel 5. It offers viewers the chance to see the wide breadth of work covered by the agency.
This article has been extracted from the much longer main report and covers specific aspects of marine transportation safety.
At about 0300 on 18 February 2021, a deckhand fell overboard from the twin rig stern trawler Copious (LK 985) approximately 30 nautical miles south-east of the Shetland Islands. The deckhand was conscious, wearing a lifejacket and was quickly brought alongside the vessel. However, the crew’s attempts to recover the casualty back on board were unsuccessful. He was unresponsive when recovered from the water by a coastguard helicopter and pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.
Cracks in a muffler coupled with the use of combustible materials in accommodation spaces caused a fire on a towing vessel last year on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway near Freeport, Texas, is the key finding in the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) report.