Page 14 - INTERCARGO - Annual Report_2021
P. 14
ANNUAL REVIEW
Safe carriage of cargoes
& investigation of incidents
INTERCARGO continues to have The International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes (IMSBC)
Code, stipulating the carriage requirements for cargoes,
concerns regarding the mis- clearly lays out the responsibilities of the various stakehold-
declaration of cargo by shippers/ ers in the distribution chain, including the specific informa-
tion about the cargo that should be provided to the Master.
receivers – the catastrophic With this information the Master is able to make informed
consequences of which are decisions on the safe carriage of the cargo which in turn en-
ables the safety of the crew and the vessel. Unfortunately,
well documented. In addition, all too often, cases of cargo mis-declaration (including fal-
INTERCARGO is also troubled by sification of laboratory reports) or suspicion of mis-decla-
ration are being reported through official or unofficial chan-
the lack of public availability of nels, this is particularly true of Group A cargoes.
accident investigation reports. Group A cargoes are those cargoes that may undergo a
moisture related cargo failure mechanism such as liquefac-
tion and dynamic separation. In August 2019 liquefaction
was the suspected cause for the loss of the Nur Allya, lad-
en with nickel ore. In August 2020, the bulk carrier Zhong
Chang He Sheng, also laden with nickel ore, reported lique-
faction of its cargo and issued a distress signal due to a risk
of capsizing. More recently the general cargo ship Xin Hong
issued a distress signal and reported cargo shift and devel-
oping list, it was reported that the vessel was carrying clay,
a cargo deemed not to liquefy.
Learning lessons from incidents and sharing of experi-
ence have proven to be effective approaches to raise safe-
ty awareness and to deepen the understanding and knowl-
edge of the existing rules, regulations and skills.
Between 2011 and the end of Jan 2021, only 20 of the 34
reported bulk carrier losses have had investigation re-
ports made available on IMO’s GISIS database, represent-
ing 58.8% of the total. Although the average time from in-
cident to a report becoming available has been 16 months
for these investigations, in some cases reports from up to
10 years ago are still not available. It is clear that there is a
need for improvements in Flag State reporting.
For more information on this topic please visit:
intercargo.org/topics/cargoes-liquefaction
and intercargo.org/topics/incidents/
12
