Weigh every box, urges ship manager

A SHIP manager caught up in an accident involving crushed containers is lobbying for every box to be weighed before loading.

That would prevent many of the incidents when either stacks have collapsed or containers have been washed overboard, Döhle (IOM) non-executive chairman Jörg Vanselow told an industry audience this week.

No single cause can be blamed for the sizeable number of container losses recorded in recent years, but Capt Vaneslow is pressing for more information about the cargo to be supplied to the ship’s master by the shipper or terminal operator.

That would enable senior officers to make a decision about the safest height of a container stack, said Capt Vaneslow, who was at sea for 16 years before joining the German shipping group Peter Döhle.

The company managed the 868 teu Annabella, which has become a cause celebre in shipping circles after seven 30 ft containers collapsed in to the hold early last year.

The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch made a number of recommendations, including the need for a code of best practise that the industry is now working on.

Statistics on the number of container losses is hard to come by, but one industry estimate puts the figure at around 10,000 boxes a year. Of those, about 25% are lost over the side, according to Jos Koning, senior project manager at the Maritime Research Institute in the Netherlands, which is now working on a study of the dynamics and tolerances of a container stack on a super post-panamax ships which may be piled seven or eight boxes high.

The value of annual losses would probably be around $500m, an amount easily covered by insurance, but the real risk is the consequential damage such as schedule disruption, risk of a toxic leak, and a negative public image.

Addressing Containerisation International’s Global Liner Shipping Conference, Mr Koning said numerous contributory factors had been identified when investigating container loss accidents.

Some were caused by parametric rolling, others by bow slamming. Faulty twistlocks, ship size or design, poor stowage, lack of maintenance, or basic human error could all be blamed at various times.

“There is no one singe reason why cargo is being lost,” Mr Koning said.

Small ships may be more at risk than bigger vessels because of their lower freeboard and greater vulnerability to weather conditions or overweight containers.

But the Dutch institute has also embarked on its TallShip project to examine whether rules developed when containerships were very much smaller are still suitable for the latest generation of boxships with much higher stacks. The conclusions should be ready by June 2009 and may be submitted to the International Maritime Organization.

One concern is the relative inexperience of many ships’ crews and whether they have sufficient seafaring skills in the rare event of hitting exceptionally severe weather.

Pressure on the crew of small ships such as the Annabella is intense these days, with far more hectic sailing schedules then ever before, according to Capt Vanselow. In busy ports like Rotterdam, where feeders may have to call at several different berths, the crew is working virtually round-the-clock.

Furthermore, the captain may not receive details about the next port of call until he is alongside the quay.
But what a ship’s officers should be supplied with is information about the weight of containers being loaded, Capt Vanselow argues.

Procedures could easily be adapted so that each container is weighed as it is lifted onto the ship, and that information immediately conveyed to the captain.

Should an accident occur, a legal nightmare begins because of the highly complex contractual web covering a ship and its cargo.

There is no straightforward way of determining who is responsible, with each and every contract likely to be unique in some way, according to Holman Fenwick & Willan partner Craig Neame.

Contracts “are a complete and utter minefield”, with any parties involved in a loss advised to map out the relationships with each other that could involve the cargo owner, forwarder, shipowner, shipping line, terminal operator P&I club, hull underwriter, cargo insurer and more.

• A device designed by former insurance broker Toby Priestly could help solve the hazards posed by semi-submerged containers.

He has patented an automatic two-way valve that opens either on contact with water, or when under pressure, so that air can escape.

Four of these simple-to-manufacture valves fitted to each container would enable water to flood into a box lost overboard, ensuring it should sink quickly rather than floating just beneath the surface.