Many ships are avoiding the Red Sea by sailing around South Africa exposing them to unforgiving seas around the Cape. With several incidents of cargo stowage failure and container losses in the region recently there are fears of more to come, argue Are Solum, Team Leader, Dry Cargo Claims (Lawyer), Gard AS, and Mark Russell, Mark Russell as Managing Director of Gard's Hong Kong office.  

Mark Russell, Vice President, Head of Cargo Claims, Gard P&I Club, presents cases involving cargoes that may liquefy but are not listed in the International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes (IMSBC) Code as Group A cargoes and thus are not declared as such by shippers.

Container fires may now be occurring on a weekly basis and in Gard’s experience most are associated with cargo misdeclaration. However just as with tackling the fire itself, tackling misdeclaration is a significant industry challenge. Thus, Mark Russell, Vice President, Head of Cargo Claims in London and  Charmaine Chu, Claims Executive in Hong Kong discuss the severity of cargo misdeclaration and the impact it has in the shipping market.