Alarming number of containers fail dangerous goods inspection

A random inspection of containers in the United States revealed that 49% of all import containers into the country failed a dangerous goods inspection. At least 44% of the containers had packing and storage issues, while a total of 8% contained misdeclared cargo. These findings by the US National Cargo Bureau serves as wake-up call to the entire world, says Mike Yarwood of Freight insurer, TT Club. “A total of 55% of the containers failed the inspection for one reason or another. If more than half of containers in a random inspection involving only 500 containers fails, what would an inspection of 5000 containers show?” Speaking in Cape Town recently, Yarwood said risks were being transferred across the supply chain thanks to incorrect packing and securing of containers. “Export containers have to be packed correctly if we want to reduce the risk of losses – as well as the number of incidents that occur at present in the movement of these boxes whether at sea on road or rail.” He said claims for containers ran into millions of dollars, but insurance houses were increasingly referring to the International Maritime Organisation’s Code of Practice for Packing of Cargo Transport Units (CTU Code) to determine liability. “Cases can be in court for years – as was the case with the MSC Flaminia.” In that particular case a container exploded and caused a fire that resulted in the death of three people on board the vessel, while thousands of cargo containers were destroyed. The court found the shipping line could not be held responsible, but instead found against the cargo owner and the company that booked the transport of the container. He said the CTU Code provided a guideline and was aimed at reducing incidents where cargo could be lost. “Shipping lines handle vast numbers of containers and there is simply not enough time for the inspection of the content of every container prior to loading for export. The CTU Code was established to ensure that export containers are packed correctly according to global standards.”