Cargo risk management is about our cumulative experience and expertise - Bureau Veritas
AS THE industry becomes more and more globalised, it is essential to be able to
control risk outside one's immediate environment,
said Stephane Sakoschek, Bureau Veritas regional marketing manager.
Projects are often complex involving many parties during the various design, construction and operations phases. It is very important to recognise that the different parties have different goals and objectives, he said.
In an increasingly competitive world, these varying objectives would inevitably need active requirements for assessing and managing risk in the areas of quality, safety and environment, he said.
Cargo risk can be a simple matter of a leaking transport container causing damage to goods in transit or the lack of a simple safety precaution when sealing a container thereby inviting the attention of thieves.
The company employs over
8 000 people attending to the problems of cargo risk management. This ranges from dunnage evaluation to samples and laboratory analysis.
Examples are leaking phosphorous containers stored in water for transport because they are highly explosive in contact with air. Others include food contamination such as aflatoxins or e.coli and salmonella which, in high enough concentrations, can prove deadly to humans.
Cargo risk management is about our cumulative experience and expertise which has proven indispensable time and time again in the daily management of cargo shipping. One must keep in mind that it is easier to prevent risk than it is to solve a problem once it has occurred.
That is the secret of cargo risk management and very often at a fraction of the cost and time, he said.
Bureau Veritas has introduced high-powered information systems such as electronic transfer of documents and real time information display with customers' access to powerful data bases to respond more effectively to new market requirements arising from the continued globalisation of trade.
By Anna Cox
