Classification Society ABS and representatives from the Cargo Incident Notification System (CINS) have formed a joint industry project to develop best practices for the transport of dangerous goods.Over the past six months, the American Bureau of Shipping has been working with CINS members to develop guidelines for optimal stowage strategies. After a three-month trial, best practice guidelines will be posted on the CINS website.”Transporting dangerous goods, which have not been properly identified or accounted for, can adversely affect the safety of the vessel and, more importantly, be harmful to those on board,” commented Gareth Burton, Vice President of ABS Technology.”At the core of our collective efforts is improving safety by developing a set of best practices that includes key lessons that CINS members have learned from past incidents.”The objective of the project is a comprehensive set of best practices to improve stoving planning and risk mitigation for the transport of dangerous goods, thereby applying existing risk assessment procedures in a targeted way. The number of serious fires on container ships caused by incorrect transport of dangerous goods has surged in recent years, with Maersk Honam and Yantan Express two high-profile examples of the worrying growth trend in liner transport.ICHCA International calculates that of the 60 million containers moved each year, 10 percent, or 6 million, are declared dangerous goods. Inspection results published by the government show that 20 percent of goods are poorly packaged or misidentified, and these inspection results are always biased toward declared dangerous goods. That means 1.3 million potentially unstable containers of dangerous goods travel around the world every year.For more information about misdeclared goods and their risks, you can check out the Standard Club Standard Goods Special Edition.
