Just under a year ago, the problems caused by containers falling into the sea were in the headlines when the Australian Maritime Safety Authority reported that an APL containership had lost 40 boxes off the coast of New South Wales. Since then the position has worsened dramatically. As a consequence, new measures to mitigate such losses were on the agenda at the May 5-14 meeting of IMO Maritime Safety Committee (MSC 103).
Reporting on the meeting, BIMCO’s Jeppe Skovbakke Juhl notes that containers lost at sea represent a potential danger to maritime safety and is a threat to the environment, particularly with regard to the plastics they contain. Over the course of three months late last year and early this year, almost 3,500 containers were lost in a number of incidents in the Western Pacific. This is far above the numbers usually Continue reading “IMO set to move on container losses at sea”
Incidents in enclosed spaces have been a serious problem for many years within the operation and management of ships. Unfortunately, the number of these accidents has not decreased, even in recent years, despite the issuance of the ISM code and the inclusion of detailed procedures and precautions of enclosed space in the safety management manuals produced by all shipping companies. In this article by Capt Hiroshi Sekine, Senior Loss Prevention Executive at UK P&I Club, he explores this distressing subject in more detail.
