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Issue 1 2015 - Freight Business Journal Insurance Two steps forward, but much still to be done


TT Club’s risk management director, Peregrine Storrs-Fox assesses just how recent deliberations by the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee will advance the


cause of container and unit load safety in the future. At the end of November the International Maritime Organization’s Maritime Safety Committee (IMO MSC) finalised work on two significant measures for the unit load industry. But they are just two stakes in the ground that begin to mark out what needs to be done in developing safety throughout the supply chain. Adoption of the amendment to SOLAS (the


Convention for Safety of Life at Sea) concerning verification of gross mass for container is certainly welcome and it will become mandatory in July 2016. The implications of this relatively modest change – in essence reiterating the shippers’ responsibility to declare gross mass accurately and clarifying the means by which it can be done – will reverberate through the international transport community. It will be important to develop consistency across the globe as to acceptable ways, and common standards, to confirm calibration and certification for both weighing the packed container (‘Method 1’); or to ensure the correct calculation of the sum of all constituent parts of a packed unit (‘Method 2’). As oſten, the devil is in the detail of implementation. Much work will be required by the government authorities


worldwide to deliver even-handed enforcement. Perhaps more importantly, those contracting to carry or handle container cargo need urgently to identify how each will develop compliance. This will be a mixture of procedural clarification, system enhancement and integration, and physical infrastructure. Freight forwarders and logistics operators will need to consider


whether to seek approval under Method 2, or find ways to comply with Method 1. Ports and terminals – no longer able to load on board ships without verified gross mass – need to work out whether to check the verification and how to ensure compliance. Liner operators face the challenge of ensuring that their systems and communications flag up and use a verified gross mass. Overall, in the current regulatory climate, TT Club suggests that the industry itself will police this safety initiative. The second welcome ‘stake’ is the approval by the three UN sponsors


of the CTU Code and related ‘informative material’. This has now been approved and is immediately applicable globally as a non-mandatory code of practice. While certain jurisdictions may implement the code into national legislation – which is one of the benefits of a code – the entire freight industry must recognise that this detailed guidance may now be used in any litigation as demonstrating good industry practice. The TT Club cannot stress enough that all parties need to become


familiar with the contents and develop ways to implement and encourage compliance with the CTU Code.* At TT Club we have repeatedly drawn attention to the consequences


of inappropriate load distribution and badly secured cargo within CTUs (cargo transport units - freight containers, swap bodies, trailers and suchlike used in intermodal transport), including bodily injury. More


///NEWS


News Roundup Forwarding & Logistics


Davies Turner is offering next day distribution to


the Netherlands in


partnership with Raben Group. With a departure at 14.00 from Davies Turner¹s Dartford depot, UK exporters can expect next day distribution throughout Holland.


UPS has expanded its Worldwide Express Freight service for urgent and high-value international heavyweight shipments to 12 new origins (Chile, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Slovakia, Turkey and Vietnam) and nine new destinations (Chile, Indonesia, Israel, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Vietnam).


DHL Freight has extended its day-definite road freight service to nine more terminals across Europe, including Warrington. There are also new stations in France, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Spain and Slovakia and two in Portugal (Lisbon, Porto).


Freight forwarder SDV has launched a range of services to support the international development of small and medium- sized Enterprises. EXPAND by SDV includes credit insurance, cargo insurance and customs diagnosis to handle the risks linked to international trade and to avoid the risks of non- payment.


Chipping away at safety margins can lead to disasters like the MSC Napoli


training of those employed by shippers, consolidators, warehouses and depots to pack containers and other transport units is now essential. As a result, TT Club commissioned Exis Technologies, a leading developer of e-learning training courses for the transport industry, to develop the CTUpack e-learning course**, which was launched last January. TT emphasises that training is clearly the number one loss


prevention measure and, if adopted as a core feature of operators’ culture, can greatly reduce the number of incidents incurred globally each year throughout the industry. These two elements begin to mark out new safety parameters


and will undoubtedly, if adequately and consistently implemented, bring about some improvements through the supply chain. However, the benefits may accrue more to landside operations. The TT Club is amongst those in the international shipping community who are expressing concern that much is yet to be done in the maritime mode particularly, referring to the MARIN ‘Lashing@Sea’ investigation. While the issues highlighted in that report of cargo weight are in hand, the other issues relating to ship planning, lashing, and dynamic ship-board information are ongoing. Recognising the complexity of supply chain logistics and


infrastructure, TT Club urges the relevant entities at IMO to seize all the issues that give rise to “unknown variables … [that] erode or eliminate the safety margins in place” as succinctly described by the UK Maritime Accident Investigation Bureau’s report on ‘MSC Napoli’ in 2008.


* The CTU Code can be downloaded from the UNECE website at http://www.unece.org/trans/wp24/guidelinespackingctus/intro.html


** CTUpack e-learning™ can be purchased directly from www.ctupack.com. There are discounts for courses purchased in quantity. Exis Technologies


also sells Hazcheck Systems for the management of dangerous goods in sea transport www.hazcheck.com


and online IMDG Code training courses www.imdge-learning.com


The Air & Sea division of Norbert Dentressangle has launched a new ‘aircraft on ground’ service in Ireland to support the time-critical movement of aerospace parts. As with its existing AOG desks in Paris and London, it provides a complete range of services including hand carry, taxi, baggage transfer and aircraft charter to minimise costly downtime. About40% of all aircraft worldwide are leased through Irish companies.


Hellmann Worldwide Logistics UK has been awarded Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) status by HM Revenue & Customs.


CEVA Logistics has opened a new, multi-user warehouse next to the sea port of Gdynia in northern Poland. CEVA is particularly targeting freight management and contract logistics customers from the industrial, automotive and technology sectors. Services will include storage, ocean-, surface- and multimodal freight management of exports and imports, customs brokerage, container consolidation and container de-stuffing.


Lutterworth logistics and warehousing specialist Core Management Logistics (CML), has made two appointments for its international freight forwarding services. James Thorpe has joined the freight forwarding team as international business development manager and Pat Treanor has taken on the role of exports and internal sales officer. CML has also employed freight forwarding consultant Antoine Petragallo, to support the expansion.


Chief executive of the Humber local enterprise partnership, Kishor Tailor, officially opened a new 40,000sq ft warehouse for Neill & Brown Global Logistics on 4 December 2014. The company said that 14 local businesses have helped develop the £2.5m site at Marfleet Environmental Technology Park.


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