Tag: World Shipping Council

SOLAS amendments on container weighing will become effective July 1st, 2016 On July 1st, 2016, the SOLAS amendments will become effective for packed containers received for transportation (gate-in or off-rail).In November 2014, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted mandatory amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Chapter VI, Part A, Regulation 2 - Cargo information.The SOLAS amendments, effective next year, place a requirement on the shipper of a packed container, regardless of who packed the container, to verify and provide the container's gross verified weight to the ocean carrier and port terminal representative prior to it being loaded onto a ship.A verified container weight is a condition for loading a packed container aboard a vessel for export. The vessel operator and the terminal operator are required to use verified container weights in vessel stowage plans and are prohibited from loading a packed container aboard a vessel for export if the container does not have a verified container weight.World Shipping Council released the following document to provide an outline of what the implementation of the SOLAS amendments requires of the various commercial parties.Source: World Shipping Council

Speaking before a conference on ballast water treatment regulation, World Shipping Council President Chris Koch outlined the conundrum facing the maritime industry caused by the lack of any globally accepted ballast water treatment technology. While there is general, global acceptance of the IMO’s ballast water treatment discharge standard, there is today no globally accepted ballast water treatment technology that meets that standard – meaning that vessel operators could face an enormous capital investment in treatment technology that may be insufficient to meet regulatory obligations. “If the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention enters into force before U.S. type approved technology is commercially available and before the IMO’s equipment type approval guidelines are amended to address their recognized problems, vessel owners would face a legal obligation under the Convention to install IMO type approved technology that may not reliably meet the Convention’s discharge standard and that may not be acceptable in the U.S. trades.” Mr. Koch stated: “These shortcomings should be causing thoughtful governments that have not yet ratified the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention to pause before ratifying, because — what nation wants to be the one that causes the Convention to come into force before these fundamental issues have been ...

The European Commission has been working to rewrite the European Unions advance cargo data reporting requirements

Requirements to take effect July 1, 2016 At the end of 2014, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) that will require every packed export container to have a verified container weight as a condition for loading aboard a vessel. This requirement will become legally binding on July 1, 2016.All parties involved in the international transportation of maritime containers including shippers, freight forwarders, packers, NVOCCs, carriers, and marine terminal operators will need to take measures to ensure that they are prepared to fulfill the new SOLAS regulatory requirement before the implementation date arrives. There currently is more than a year to get ready. That time should not be wasted. All parties should use the time that is available to understand what will be required of them, and to prepare to be able to meet those requirements before July 1, 2016.In order to help promote an understanding of these SOLAS amendments, the World Shipping Council has released a three page synopsis of what the SOLAS requirement containers. That synopsis, along with the text of the SOLAS requirements, can be found by clicking here.Source:World Shipping Council

WSC issues survey results for containers lost at sea The World Shipping Council (WSC) issued its updated survey results on containers lost at sea for six year period from 2008 to 2013. The survey results showed that there were 546 containers lost on average each year.In 2013, the international liner shipping industry carried approximately 120 million containers packed with cargo, with an estimated value of more than $4 trillion. Proper packing, stowage and securing of containers is very important to the safety of a container ship, its cargo and its crew, to shore-based workers and equipment, and to the environment. Even with proper packing of the cargo into the container, proper container weight declaration, and proper stowage and securing aboard ship, a number of factors ranging from severe weather and rough seas to more catastrophic and rare events like ship groundings, structural failures, or collisions can result in containers being lost at sea.Obtaining an accurate assessment of how many containers actually are lost at sea has been a challenge. There have been widely circulated, but unsupported and grossly inaccurate statements that the industry might lose up to 10,000 containers a year at sea. A number of submissions to the International ...

ICS, BIMCO, Intercargo, Intertanko, WSC have jointly made a submission to upcoming IMO Maritime Environment Protection Committee (IMO MEPC 66) to amend the Guidelines for approval of ballast water management systems in order to ensure success of the BWM Convention. The MEPC 66 will be held in IMO headquarters from 31 March 2014 to 4 April 2014.

The World Shipping Council (WSC) congratulates the Dangerous Goods, Solid Cargo and Containers (DSC) Sub-committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for approving proposed changes to the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention that will require verification of container weights before loaded containers are placed aboard ships.

IAPH joins with WSC, ICS and BIMCO The International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) has joined with the World Shipping Council (WSC), the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), and BIMCO in the effort to encourage the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to amend the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) to require, as a condition for stowing a loaded container on board a ship, that the ship and the port facility have a verified actual weight of the container. All four organizations have consultative status at the IMO.The announcement comes as the IMO's Dangerous Goods, Solid Cargoes and Containers (DSC) subcommittee, which is responsible for improving the safety of container stowage and ships operations, continues its efforts to construct a SOLAS requirement that loaded export containers have a verified weight prior to vessel loading. As instructed by the IMO's Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), DSC will consider such a requirement at its next session in September 2012 (DSC 17)."Weighing containers to confirm their actual weight is the right operational and safety practice. There is substantial experience with such a requirement in the United States demonstrating that this is feasible on a technological and commercial basis. It is time to make ...

Three cases in which refrigeration units had exploded for no apparent reason. Hundreds of refrigerated containers have been quarantined in various locations around the world following reports of compressor explosions and incidents of spontaneous combustion that have resulted in at least three fatalities.The alarm was raised by Maersk Line on 18 October when it informed the World Shipping Council's Safe Transport of Containers Working Group that it had recently experienced three cases in which refrigeration units had exploded for no apparent reason.While the precise causes of the explosions are still under investigation, Maersk said it had ascertained that all three refrigeration units involved had received gas repairs in Vietnam between late March and late April and advised other lines that had had similar gas repairs or maintenance to refrigeration units in Vietnam to identify and investigate those units.Observers say all the major reefer machinery brands - Carrier, Daikin, Thermo King and Star Cool - are potentially affected by what is suspected to be the introduction of contaminated or otherwise unsuitable refrigerant gas into the system that causes a chemical reaction when it comes into contact with R134a, oil or air, creating a flammable/explosive mixture.At least two Carrier ThinLINE and one ...

There have been no comprehensive statistics kept Proper cargo loading and stowage of containers is very important to the safety of acontainer ship, its cargo and its crew, to shore-based workers and equipment, and to theenvironment. Even with proper loading of the cargo into the container and secure stowageaboard ship, a number of factors ranging from severe weather and rough seas to morecatastrophic and rare events like ship grounding or collision can result in containers being lostoverboard while at sea.A question which has deserved an informed answer is: How many containers actuallyare lost at sea? The World Shipping Council (WSC) has seen various statements in public thatthe industry loses 10,000 containers a year at sea. The WSC understood that this number isgrossly excessive and concurs with the statement of the National Cargo Bureau: "there havebeen no comprehensive statistics kept, as to the number of containers lost overboard."In an effort to shed greater clarity on the issue, the WSC undertook a survey of itsmembers to obtain a more accurate estimate of the number of containers lost overboard on anannual basis. The WSC's members represent over 90 percent of the global containershipcapacity. Members were asked to provide the actual number of containers ...