Tag: Intercargo

Industry Must Unite to Stop This Unnecessary Loss of Life The recent tragic loss of the 2005-built supramax bulk carrier Vinalines Queen and 22 of its crew again underlines the urgent need for greater enforcement of regulations and testing of cargoes that may liquefy.The ship, which was reportedly carrying a cargo of nickel ore from Morowali, Indonesia to China, was reported missing on 25 December, considered lost. Back in December 2010 following the loss of 3 bulk carriers and 44 crew in short succession, all owing to cargo liquefaction, Intercargo took the opportunity to remind the industry of the dangers associated with the carriage of hazardous cargoes - however the loss of the Vinalines Queen demonstrates that the message still isn't getting through.Speaking of the loss, Secretary General of Intercargo, Rob Lomas said "we've previously called on shippers and cargo interests to conduct an urgent review into the testing and safety processes involved in shipping of hazardous cargoes, following the spate of accidents and fatalities in 2010, but clearly more needs to be urgently done to stop this appalling unnecessary loss of life"."Sadly, it seems that some shipowners still do not have the relevant experience or knowledge in interpreting the ...

The document has received approval from Round Table members Industry has produced a set of guidelines aimed at giving guidance on the construction and use of citadels in waters affected by Somalia piracy. The document has received approval from Round Table members - INTERTANKO, BIMCO, ICS and INTERCARGO - as well as other industry associations. NATO, EUNAVFOR and the Combined Maritime Force (CMF) have also approved the document.A citadel as defined in BMP4 is "A designated pre-planned area purpose built into the ship where, in the event of imminent boarding by pirates, all crew will seek protection. A citadel is designed and constructed to resist a determined pirate trying to gain entry for a fixed period of time."Since January 2010, there have been 26 cases where pirates have actually boarded vessels, but have been unable to take control because the vessel's crew have all successfully sought refuge in a pre-planned citadel. However, there have also been five cases where citadels have been breached - these may be attributed to a number of factors including poor construction and location of the citadel. With the use of citadels increasing, the pirates have similarly gained experience in defeating a citadel - this includes ...

ICS, BIMCO, INTERTANKO and INTERCARGO demand a The global shipping industry (represented by the Round Table of international shipping associations) has called for the establishment of a United Nations force of armed military guards to tackle the piracy crisis in the Indian Ocean, which it says is spiralling out of control.In a hard hitting letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), BIMCO, INTERTANKO and INTERCARGO demand a "bold new strategy" to curb rising levels of piracy which have resulted in the Indian Ocean resembling "the wild west".The letter states: "It is now abundantly clear to shipping companies that the current situation, whereby control of the Indian Ocean has been ceded to pirates, requires a bold new strategy. To be candid, the current approach is not working."Regretting the increasing necessity for shipping companies to employ private armed guards to protect crew and ships, the letter continues: "It seems inevitable that lawlessness ashore in Somalia will continue to breed lawlessness at sea."The shipping industry organisations - which represent more than 90% of the world merchant fleet - say they fully support the UN's long-term measures on shore aimed at helping the Somali people but are concerned that ...

Latest update of the Industry supported Anti Piracy BMPs After a long waited period the latest version of the Anti Piracy Best Management Practices (BMP4) are due to become available to the market.All supporting industry Associations are currently working on a co-ordinated release of the publication by the end of Month. The websites of all supporting organisations will carry official versions of BMP 4.INTERCARGO has produced a summary of the differences between the existing BMP3 and the new version BMP4 which is available herebelow for your easy reference.Please click below to acess :Anti Piracy Best Management Practices BMP4INTERCARGO Comparison Document on BMP3/BMP4Source : INTERCARGO

Detainable deficiencies linked to fire continue to be the most significant reason sg-eylee 11.9999 Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 In Intercargos fifth edition of Benchmarking Bulk Carriers 2010-2011 publication, ports where bulk carriers were detained in 2010 are listed.Last year was challenging for dry bulk shipping, even though the number of detentions overall stayed surprisingly consistent, when compared with recent trends. Flag administrations such as China and India are becoming increasingly important, whereas the Paris MOU recorded as sharp decrease in the number of bulk carriers detained from 142 in 2009 to just 103 in 2010. This suggests that targeting of vessels is becoming an important issue.It is very important to reduce the likelihood of multiple detention s and to reduce the risk of banning order being imposed. Deficiencies for serious structural reasons declined, suggesting that vessels with the potential to show these types of deficiencies were not as active in the market as they were in previous years.Detainable deficiencies linked to fire continue to be the most significant reason relating to bulk carriers, matched only by increases in ISM-related issues such as ensuring that the correct documentation is on board and pollution related issues.Interesting points of notice:Many Australian ...

A company with DPI score between 0 and 0.16 will be in the best 10% range Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Intercargos fifth edition of Benchmarking Bulk Carriers 2010-2011 publications, includes company performance measured by Deficiencies per Inspection (DPI)The DPI ratio is the tool used to access company performance. To calculate DPI, a company should add the total number of deficiencies recorded against their dry bulk vessels in the Paris MoU, Indian Ocean MoU, Tokyo MoU and USCG regions during 2010 and then divide the sum by the total number of inspections.A company with a DPI between 0 and 2 will be on the top 50% of all fleets under consideration. A company with DPI score between 0 and 0.16 will be in the best 10% range.Vessel which falls in the bottom 10% of the DPI range appears to be the subject of many repeat inspections and subsequent detentions, which could reinforce the point that more sophisticated targeting regimes, are being employed by PSC authorities.Additionally, the Paris MoU New Inspections Regime (NIR), which entered into force on 1 January 2011, includes a targeting system assigning a risk profile to each vessel visiting ports in the region.Below table includes Benchmarking ...

Suggesting ways and means for dry bulk companies to self-assess their performance Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Intercargo issued the fifth edition of Benchmarking Bulk Carriers 2010-2011, including an extensive amount of data which can be used to develop a greater understanding of the industry today. These data also suggest ways and means for dry bulk companies to self-assess their performance against actual and expected industry trends and hence to react to the expectations of the regulators and potential customers alike in areas as diverse as safety, piracy and the trends associated with corporate inexperience.Key findings and implementations include among other things.Age profile: Intercargo uses empirical evidence to show that the quality of the owner and their culture is of most importance than the age of the vessels they control. During last years the average age of the fleet increased marginally to 13.1 years. 20.24% of the dry bulk fleet is more than 25 years old. Vessels over 25 years have an average DPI of 6.11 compare to the sub-25 year sector where the average DPI is 2.32.Casualties: Seven bulk carriers were lost in 2010. Every one of the 44 lives lost was due to cargo related issues: specifically, ...

A need for careful implementation of IMSBC Code To ship dry bulk cargoes safely it is vital that ships masters receive clear, accurate and reliable information on the properties and characteristics of cargoes and the required conditions for safe carriage and handling. This is a SOLAS requirement reinforced in significant detail in the International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes Code (IMSBC Code), mandatory since 1 January, 2011.But there is increasing evidence that this is not happening in every case.The consequences of failing to meet these requirements were seen last year when 44 seafarers lost their lives within 39 days in three casualties: Jian Fu Star (27 October: 13 fatalities); Nasco Diamond (10 November: 21 fatalities) and Hong Wei (3 December: 10 fatalities).Typical problems experienced by our members include:- Using cargo trade names and not the Bulk Cargo Shipping Name (BCSN);- Confusing cargo identification and correct identification of cargo group whether a cargo is a Group A (prone to liquefaction), Group B (representing a chemical hazard) or Group C (not prone to liquefaction or representing a chemical hazard) for example declaring a cargo as a Group C cargo (not prone to liquefaction) but providing a Transportable Moisture Limit (TML) indicating that the ...