'Weight misdeclaration contributed to Napoli sinking'

THE CURSE of shippers misdeclaring – deliberately or accidentally – the weights and contents of container shipments, has been blamed as a contributing factor to last year's sinking of the container ship MSC Napoli carrying cargo between Europe and S A. Although not the primary cause of the accident – a ship hull fracture was the main offender – this misdeclaration has been condemned by the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) in a recent report. “The misdeclaration of container weights and contents was a contributing factor to the accident,” it said. The report states that only in container shipping is the weight of the cargo unknown. This is because many shippers either don’t have the facilities to weigh containers before shipment, or because they’re discouraged from doing so by factors such as import taxes, loading restrictions, and rail and road weight restrictions. However, Peregrine Storrs-Fox, the TT Club’s risk management director, says that lack of access to weighing facilities doesn’t mean that shippers can disregard the significant safety implications of an overweight container. “These findings simply underline the TT Club's continuing concern that cargo weight and hazardous details are habitually misdeclared,” says S torrs- Fox. “Although it was not seen as a primary cause of the accident, the MAIB report does state that misdeclaration erodes or eliminates existing safety margins.” However two of the main conclusions drawn from the MAIB investigation and report were that the vessel’s hull did not have sufficient buckling strength in way of the engine room and the ship’s speed was not reduced sufficiently in the heavy seas. This MAIB report rather confirms the well-known rule that most accidents are a combination of events and errors, rather than one significant event, according to Durban-based marine lawyer, Andrew Robinson of Deneys Reitz. “In my view the reportestablishes quite clearly that the MSC Napoli was unseaworthy before the commencement of the voyage,” he told FTW, “and the defects the vessel did have were either known to the owners or would have been discovered upon the exercise of due diligence."