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BIFAlink


Policy & Compliance


www.bifa.org


Container safety starts with packing


TT Club has been at the heart of a long-term campaign to increase awareness of good cargo packing practices, both through its response to incidents and by speaking at industry events. These efforts have now been galvanized in the Cargo Integrity Group. The insurer’s loss prevention managing director Michael Yarwood explains how all supply chain stakeholders have a responsibility for safety


TT Club analyses consistently indicate that two-thirds of incidents related to cargo damage are caused or exacerbated by poor packing practices. The problems evident from incident investigations reveal variously inappropriate load distribution, inadequate cargo securing, improper classification or description of the goods, inaccurate documentation and ineffective data transfer between the multiple actors involved in the shipment process.


Poor packing costs This range of issues has been identified through litigation of major incidents, but is also prevalent in lower level, attritional incidents that result in disruption in the supply chain, as well as injury and considerable cost. Whether fires onboard containerships or container stack failures, vehicle rollovers, train derailments, internal cargo collapses or incidents of invasive pest contamination, it is possible to trace poor packing practices. Extrapolating known figures, this combination of incidents is estimated to result in a total economic cost to the transport and logistics industry exceeding $6 billion annually. The most galling aspect of this is that the vast majority is avoidable by adopting established good practice. But what is ‘good practice’? The simple


response is the Cargo Transport Unit (CTU) Code – www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Safety/Cargoes/


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intermodal transport, taking account of the requirements of all sea and land transport modes. The CTU Code applies to transport operations throughout the entire intermodal transport chain and provides guidance not only to those responsible for packing and securing cargo, but also to those who receive and unpack such units. It also addresses issues such as training and the packing of dangerous goods. Running to 13 chapters and 10 annexes, the


code is comprehensive, but it is seen as a little complex for those wishing to navigate to guidance for their particular function. TT therefore, along with its fellow partners in the Cargo Integrity Group, has compiled a ‘Quick Guide’ to the CTU Code, together with a checklist of actions and responsibilities for those packing cargoes in freight containers specifically. The aim is to make the code accessible to as many operatives as possible, encouraging them to learn how the code can be applied to their own particular functions and to adhere to the best practices that it specifies. ‘CTU Code – A Quick Guide’ can be downloaded from the BIFA website at bifa.org/information/good- practice- toolbox-bifa/ctu-code-a-quick-guide


Collaborating organisations The four international freight transport and cargo handling organisations that have collaborated on the production of this new guidance, in addition to TT Club, are the Container Owners’ Association (COA), the Global Shippers’ Forum (GSF), the International Cargo Handling Co- ordination Association (ICHCA) and the World Shipping Council (WSC). The group is planning to cooperate on a range of activities to further the adoption and implementation of crucial safety practices throughout the global supply chain.


The Quick Guide concentrates on


CargoSecuring/Pages/CTU-Code.aspx – the joint publication of IMO, ILO and UNECE. This non- mandatory global code of practice for the handling and packing of shipping containers, and other cargo transport units, for transportation by sea and land was approved in 2014. The CTU Code provides comprehensive


information on all aspects of loading and securing of cargo in containers and other


creating a ‘route map’ to aid understanding and implementation of the CTU Code, guiding the user through the complex relationships typical in the global container supply chain. It seeks to simplify the usual processes


including: the planning and preparation of goods for loading; general safety considerations; checking the structure and load-worthiness of the CTU; dealing with dangerous goods;


November 2020


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