A major container ship fire incident at sea occurs every two months on average, estimates the international transport and logistics insurer, TT Club.
">To date, four major cargo-related fire incidents have already been recorded in 2019, the most recent being Italian container vessel Grande America, which caught fire on 10 March and two days later, capsized and sank in France’s Bay of Biscay.
">Peregrine Storrs-Fox, TT Club’s risk management director, said these incidents not only frequently cost lives, millions of dollars in cargo losses and ship damage, but also caused significant delays in cargo supply chains, amounting to major disruptions across numerous industries.
">TT Club recently initiated its Cargo Integrity campaign to shed light on safety issues related to the incorrect processing of dangerous goods. Its records show that across the intermodal spectrum as a whole, 66% of incidents related to cargo damage can be attributed to poor practice in the overall packing process – not just in securing cargo, but also in cargo identification, declaration, documentation and effective data transfer.
">The calculated cost of these claims in the Marine, Aviation and Transport insurance sector is more than $500 million per year, according to Storrs-Fox.
">“We are endeavouring to focus all direct and indirect stakeholders on recognising and doing the right thing,” he said, adding that one particularly critical aspect of this was the correct declaration and handling of dangerous goods.
"> “Wrongly classified, labelled, packed or simply inaccurately identified dangerous commodities bring the greatest potential risk of disaster,” he said.
