WorldCargo
TANK CONTAINERS
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Over the past two years, ITCO seminar audience, a laden tank
has worked with ICHCA Inter- container can be the heaviest of
national to prepare the Safe Han- intermodal containers and a lack
dling of Tank Containers guide. Laid of awareness of correct filling lev-
out in 14 illustrated chapters and els can result in dangerous cargo
six annexes over 60 pages, the surge effects.
document has been compiled as Furthermore, the large
the definitive industry guide for number of both ISO tank con-
safe tank container operations. tainers and outsize swap body
ICHCA International has labelled tanks in service can raise container
the document as Briefing Pam- stacking compatibility issues at
phlet No 30. European container depots.
Reflecting the 2008 incidents,
Tank do’s and don’ts one of the strongest of the guide’s
The guide embraces the good warning messages is that under no
working practices that have been circumstances should stevedores,
developed by the tank container dock workers, ships’ crew, trans-
industry over the past four dec- port workers or customs officials,
ades and is designed to assist new- who have not been properly
Confident that tank containers have a comparatively light carbon footprint,
comers to this rapidly expanding trained and equipped, open or en-
ITCO is setting out to prove it
transport sector to become famil- ter any tank container, even if the
iar with the necessary “do’s” and container is declared as “empty.”
raised in certain quarters about aware of the products that tanks “don’ts” of tank handling. Notwithstanding the safe
the inherent safety of tanks. were carrying. Safe Handling of Tank Contain- working practice guidelines,
Although none of the inci- In Italy, at a tank depot, staff ers will also serve as a refresher for Brassington will point out in
dents in question involved the loss entered a tank to clean the rem- established industry professionals Munich that tank containers are
of a tank’s contents, valve leak- nants of a previous cargo and were and as a primer for those tank op- designed with safety in mind.
ages and tank top working acci- asphyxiated. In the US, stevedores erations that they may not en- They are robust units whose ma-
dents have resulted in injuries to were similarly overcome by cargo counter during the course of their terials of construction and fittings
personnel. Furthermore, several vapour from a leaking tank stowed normal working day. and fixtures are fully compatible
lives were lost in each of two in a ship’s hold. In both cases staff Brassington has been respon- with the range of products that
notable incidents in 2008, one in went to assist stricken fellow sible for most of the compilation the tanks are authorised and cer-
Raising the profile of tanks in the deepsea trades is a major industry initiative
Italy and one in the US, because workers and were overcome work on the guide. As he will de- tified to carry. With a full work-
third party operators were not themselves. scribe to the ITCO Tank Village ing knowledge of the subject matter in the guide, operators can ITCO appreciates that such a
ensure a a safe working environ- dialogue works both ways and has
ment for themselves and all those been seeking to gain a better un-
who come into contact with tank derstanding of the working con-
containers. ditions faced by ship operators. By
Safe Handling of Tank Contain- better understanding the chal-
ers will soon be available for lenges posed by the delivery in
downloading on the ITCO web 2009 of some of the biggest con-
site by both the Organisation’s tainer ships, not least stowage plan-
members and all other interested ning and rapid port turnaround
parties. times, tank container operators
can help shipping lines handle
Tanks by sea their units.
The third ITCO presentation
lined up for Munich is entitled Business is business
Raising the Profile of Tank Contain- The ITCO initiative is also aimed
ers with Deepsea Shipping Lines. It at establishing a better rapport
will summarise a major initiative with the shipping lines and to
launched by ITCO over the past make them aware of the impor-
year to refamiliarise operators of tance of ITCO as an important
containerships with the merits of contact point for any query about
tank containers. tank containers.
According to ITCO, many A key point that ITCO is
container shipping lines do not making to the shipping lines is the
have a favourable impression of sheer volume of good business
tank containers. Such lines see represented by tank containers.
tanks as heavy units that can cause Approximately 150,000 units of
lifting and shipboard stowage the global fleet of 250,000 tank
problems. Tank containers are also containers are ISO tanks engaged
perceived to be units used almost in the deepsea trades. Assuming
exclusively for the carriage of haz- 4.5 movements per annum for
ardous cargoes and, because of the each of those 150,000 tanks, this
risks associated with such consign- business represents 675,000 annual
ments, some shipping lines believe movements, even before the re-
that tanks containing hazardous positioning of some empties at-
goods are best avoided. tendant on such business is taken
The presentation will be given into account.
by Dave Dawson, formerly with Another point that Dawson
CP Ships, who is assisting with this will make in his presentation at
ITCO effort to increase ship- the ITCO Tank Village is that to-
owner awareness of the true na- day, only about 40% of tank
ture of tank containers and their movements involve dangerous
operation. Dawson will explain goods, compared to 65% 20 years
that a principal problem is the ago. The reason for the decreas-
shipping lines’ lack of familiarity ing percentage is the sheer vari-
with tank containers. ety of other goods now being
Long gone are the days when transported in tank containers as
many of the leading shipping lines shippers of a growing range of
operated their own dedicated fleet products become aware of their
of tank containers and employed advantages.
their own dangerous goods expert, Notwithstanding the larger
who was the key reference point number of products shipped in
within the company for all book- tank containers, those units con-
ings of shipments listed in the in- structed for the carriage of dan-
ternational Maritime Dangerous gerous goods are built to stringent
Goods (IMDG) Code. standards and have provided ster-
As shipping lines handed over ling performance in service. The
their tank fleets to specialist opera- rules and regulations governing
tors and streamlined their booking the construction of tanks used for
departments to concentrate on the carriage of dangerous goods
their core sea freight business, a cer- ensure the provision of tanks suit-
tain amount of in-house tank con- able for a long and safe working
tainer expertise was lost. ITCO, life, if operated correctly.
with Dawson’s assistance, is seek- In any case, the shipment of
ing to reinstate a degree of tank dangerous goods in general is an
container understanding amongst inherent part of daily life for ship-
the container shipping lines. A core ping lines and has been since the
document explaining the nature of global chemical industry rose to
tanks in the context of shipping op- prominence over 40 years ago. On
erations has been prepared and the containerships on some routes, for
presentation is being taken out to example, over 10% of the dry
the leading shipping lines, with the freight containers carried contain
key personnel responsible for such packaged dangerous goods of one
bookings being the target audience. class or another. a74
38 March 2009
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