What is worse is that even the version published in 2020 still includes the restriction that certain factors can only be applied to ships up to 300 metres. One has to ask the question: How many years after the launch of the first 400m container ship in 2006 do we have to wait until regulations are adapted to these circumstances?


In order to solve a problem, it is important to not treat the symptoms but rather to determine and address the root cause.


Traceability measures


Accordingly, calls for “transponders” will not solve the problem. Apart from various technical difficulties and high costs, such transponders do not reduce the number of incidents. In fact, the traceability of containers can be expected to lead to additional costs, which have not yet been recognised and taken into account in the many discussions on this issue.


Any container that does not go overboard equally reduces the environmental problems for the coastal states and ultimately for all of humanity, and at the same time any loss that does not occur reduces the costs for the insurance industry and thus ultimately also for the total number of insured parties.


The unconditional cost-saving principle for shipments could be countered effectively by the port states, especially the few northern European port states as part of an association. Those involved/ affected should not hope for international efforts.


A comparison with tanker accidents shows quite clearly: international efforts barely brought about any improvements. However, when the USA, as one of the largest oil importers, made shipbuilding changes a mandatory condition as a port state, the international tanker fleet adapted very quickly.


If one could imagine that only France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany imposed regulations regarding certain equipment as a condition for ships to dock, then these four states alone with the main import ports (Le Havre, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Bremerhaven and Hamburg) would generate such high economic pressure via northern European consumers that rapid changes are at least conceivable. If the main southern European ports of Greece, Italy and Spain were to be integrated, almost the entire European market could become unavoidable as a market power for the world’s merchant fleets.


About the Battermann + Tillery Group


With 21 offices all over Germany and various subsidiaries abroad, the Battermann + Tillery Group is one of the largest companies of marine and cargo surveyors in Europe.


For more than 100 years, the group has been providing surveying services for global insurance markets and the transport industry, maintaining the tradition of independent surveyors.


The company’s core


operations lie in documenting and evaluating transport- related cargo damage, technical losses as well as in loss prevention. In its fourth generation, the family business continues to develop and boasts a record of steady growth over the past decades. The team of experts, mostly engineers from the fields of transportation, mechanical engineering and nautical science, provide a unique in- house pool of knowledge.


60 | The Report • June 2021 • Issue 96


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