Container dangers can be reduced

THE advent of the container, now roughly half a century ago, transformed the transportation of general cargo and was the big enabler of the remarkable growth of world trade.

However, while the container ship has made possible the just-in-time logistics chain on which global commerce now depends, there have been continual concerns that certain aspects of safety have lagged behind. One issue is that the securing arrangements for the large above deck stows that characterise modern container ships, can, and do fail.

Another even more worrying concern is that a fire in a container within a stow is very difficult to fight. There have been numerous cases of where ships have been lost, and each time the focus is on how highly combustible materials are stowed. Typically, ship losses highlight misdeclaration of cargo so that crews are unaware of particularly hazardous consignments.