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P & I technical advice no. 1: 'Industry Guidance for Shippers and Container Stuffers'
21-Jan-2010
In December 2008, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and the World Shipping Council (WSC) published ‘Safe Transport of Containers by Sea: Guidelines on Industry Best Practices’. These Guidelines have been produced to minimise the dangers to containerships, their crews, and all personnel involved with containers throughout the transport chain. Meanwhile the Guidelines have been presented to governments at IMO where they have been well received. BMT De Beer contributed to these Guidelines as external advisors.
Encouragingly, the Guidelines have also attracted a positive response from shippers’ organisations who, under the umbrella of the Global Shippers Forum (GSF), have lent their support to the brochure ‘Industry Guidance for Shippers and Container Stuffers’, of which a pdf file is attached for reference.
This Guidance is primarily addressed to shippers, although everyone involved in the transport of containers by sea, not least ship operators and crew, should be aware of the importance of stuffing containers safely and correctly, and the need to comply with international regulations and best practice procedures established in the industry.
The Guidance includes amongst others useful checklists, which should assist the examination of containers during cleaning, loading and unloading, to help minimise cargo damage and reduce risks to personnel.
There have been many incidents over the years of containers being loaded above their stipulated payload. This can seriously affect stability and the safety of any ship carrying the cargo when it is underway at sea.
The Guidelines give particular emphasis to the responsibilities of those involved with the correct packing, labelling and weighing of cargoes when they are stuffed into containers, and the accurate declaration of goods by cargo interests.