The containerised supply chain is well-known for its complexity. TT Club is seeking to ‘call out’ any practice that may undermine safety and preclude certain of outcome within its ‘Cargo Integrity’ / #Fit4Freight campaign. Key targets inevitably relate to shipment, handling and carriage of dangerous goods. This year has seen a significant increase in incidents related to shipment of dangerous goods, including a number of high-profile ship fires. This has rightly given greater attention and urgency to efforts by the lines and initiatives such as the CINS Organisation to improve ...

Where does the danger lie? When measuring dangerous gases prior to enclosed space entry, we need to take into account the relative weight of the gas when compared to air. For example, we need to be aware that methane is lighter than air, carbon monoxide is the same weight and hydrogen sulphide is heavier than air. This difference in molecular weight requires gas measurements to be taken at different heights of the enclosed space to ensure thorough gas measurement prior to man entry into enclosed space. You can learn more ...

Emily has joined the London office on the 7th August and will initially work alongside Jonathan Kefford in the Americas Team. She will transfer to the New York office before the end of the year where she will provide a localised claims service to the Club’s Members in the USA, Canada and South America. A qualified lawyer, Emily has significant experience of both P&I and Defence claims, having worked as a Syndicate Manager at another International Group Club prior to joining the West. Before that she worked as in-house counsel ...

The US Coast Guard (USCG) has issued a Lessons Learned alert 01-19, Avoid delays and keep your ship schedule! Does your BilgMon 488 Bilge Alarm/Oil Content Meter operate properly?, prompted by a recent port State control inspection. The alert notes that the Marine Safety Detachment (MSD) Port Canaveral Port State Control Officers (PSCOs) identified MARPOL deficiencies related to the 15-ppm Bilge Alarm system of the Oily Water Separators (OWS) onboard four separate ships. They discovered that the entries in the Oil Record Book (ORB) did not correspond to the Bilge ...

TT Club continually seeks to understand the risks faced in the transport and logistics industry, providing relevant and targeted loss prevention advice to operators as appropriate. This article focuses on the findings of recent analysis into the risks faced by container terminals. TT Club provides insurance to port authorities, terminals and stevedores in almost half of the world’s top 100 ports globally. As a result, it is well placed to analyse incident data, providing commentary and advice on trends and loss prevention actions. This particular analysis focuses on the top ...

In 2018, the Club proudly launched a dedicated autonomous vessel P&I policy, the first of its kind in the world. The Club consulted owners, operators and manufacturers of autonomous vessels to ensure Members had the right cover in place so that they can focus on their operations knowing they are appropriately covered if anything should go wrong. Since then, we’ve gained several new Members who are doing exciting and innovative things with autonomous technology. This article features two of those Members and their recent achievements. Hushcraft One of the Club’s ...

The latest Seafarers Happiness Index report, published yesterday by The Mission to Seafarers, has revealed that seafarers working onboard cruise ships and ferries rank among the unhappiest in the industry. The report, which is produced in association with leading mutual P&I insurer the Shipowners’ Club, is based on the responses of thousands of seafarers across the global maritime industry. The latest report showed that cruise and ferry crews had an average score of 5.3/10 on their general happiness level – 15 per cent less than the global average across all ...

Since 1992, the West of England has applied a rating methodology which separates the International Group’s general excess of loss reinsurance cost for each policy year from the mutual call. The practice was adopted when Group Reinsurance costs as a proportion of overall Club premium were increasing rapidly especially for dirty tankers, although today the reinsurance cost for most categories of vessel has reduced proportionately. In 2018 we started a process of simplifying our invoicing by moving from a traditional estimated total call (split across an advance call and additional ...

According to IMO guidelines, the 15 ppm Bilge Alarm should record date, time and alarm status, and operating status of the 15 ppm Bilge Separator. The recording device should also store data for at least eighteen months and should be able to display or print a protocol for official inspections as required. In the event the 15 ppm Bilge Alarm is replaced, means should be provided to ensure the data recorded remains available on board for 18 months. During recent Port State inspections, US Coast Guard inspectors found MARPOL deficiencies ...

On 5 August 2019 the US administration significantly increased scope of sanctions against the Maduro regime in Venezuela with the issue by President Trump of Executive Order 13884 Blocking Property of the Government of Venezuela. While the Order primarily applies to US persons, it also exposes non-US persons to the risk of sanctions if they provide material assistance to the Government of Venezuela (which is widely defined in the Order). INSIGHT: Venezuela Sanctions on the website has been updated and more information is provided in a Client Alert published by ...

The updates to these forms are primarily technical, including an updated internet link for the United States Coast Guard Organization Chart which lists the USCG units to whom reporting should be made. The updated reporting form and Addendums are listed here: • CG- 2692 (07/19): Report of Marine Casualty, Commercial Diving Casualty, or Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)-Related Casualty • CG-2692A (07/19): Barge Addendum • CG-2692B (07/19): Report of Mandatory Chemical Testing Following a Serious Marine Incident Involving Vessels in Commercial Service • CG-2692C (07/19): Personnel Casualty Addendum • CG-2692D (07/19): ...

A number of container lines have recently announced measures to discourage shippers from mis-declaring hazardous cargoes, which is a practice strongly suspected as being either the cause of, or at least contributory to, the spate of container ship fires in recent months. TT Club welcomes such initiatives by liner operators as the international transport insurer has growing concerns about the lax cargo packing practices and erroneous, sometimes fraudulent, declaration of cargoes. Under the banners ‘Cargo Integrity’ and #Fit4Freight, TT Club has been collaborating with stakeholders through the freight supply chain ...

Our correspondent Dias Marine Consulting reports that the Ukrainian president has commissioned the Head of the Ukraine Sea Ports Authority to stop State Ecological Inspection attending vessels in Ukrainian ports pending a review of their activities. The ecological inspections have been halted for 2 months, up to around 21 September 2019. To date, the correspondent is not aware of any ecological inspections taking place. Members are advised to inform correspondents and the club of any attempts by ecological inspectors to conduct inspections at ports in the Ukraine. We refer to ...

Further to the club’s web alerts on 17 June and 22 July and news article on 19 July, the Warlike Operations Area Committee (WOAC) has temporarily designated the Strait of Hormuz as a high-risk area from 2 August. This follows the UK Government advice to UK-flagged ships to give it notice of any intention to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and to avoid the area unless accompanied by British naval support. The WOAC, comprised of the trade unions Nautilus International and RMT, and the UK Chamber of Shipping, decided ...

Indian entities importing crude oil, petroleum products, chemicals and fertilisers from the tension-ridden Arabian Gulf are paying “phenomenally higher” cargo insurance premium to cover war and strikes, after global marine underwriters imposed extra premium to insure cargo transiting through the Strait of Hormuz — the world’s busiest oil shipping lane — in the wake of tough measures taken by the US on Iran over its nuclear programme. Typically, cargo insurance clauses exclude war and strikes, but by attaching the war and the strikes clause, they get restored. Before tensions built ...