organization:maritime safety committee

  • Les nouvelles règles sur la pesée des conteneurs font craindre des distorsions
    http://www.lemarin.fr/secteurs-activites/shipping/25359-les-nouvelles-regles-sur-la-pesee-des-conteneurs-font-craindre-des

    À partir du 1er juillet et conformément à la convention internationale #Solas (chapitre VI, règle 2), il sera de la responsabilité du chargeur de fournir au transporteur maritime et au représentant du terminal un document signé attestant de la masse brute vérifiée (le VGM, pour verified gross mass) de tout conteneur avant son chargement à bord d’un navire. 

    Cette nouvelle réglementation, née du manque de précision des textes actuels et du nombre important d’accidents mineurs et majeurs liés à des déclarations erronées, doit donc permettre d’harmoniser les pratiques et de limiter les risques, notamment en matière de sécurité maritime.

    Mais la transcription de ce nouveau texte par chaque pays signataire dans sa réglementation nationale fait d’ores et déjà craindre des distorsions de concurrence entre ports, notamment sur l’écart toléré entre le VGM et la masse réelle, sur les contrôles et les sanctions éventuelles, sur la responsabilité du chargeur - entière ou partagée avec l’expéditeur ? -, etc.

    À voir ce qu’il en sera réellement, dans un premier temps quand la France – comme les autres États concernés – aura publié l’arrêté portant sur cette nouvelle réglementation, et dans un second temps au fil des ans et de la mise en place de cette pratique dans les pays signataires de la convention Solas.

    Dans la version papier, il est précisé qu’une bonne partie de la mise en application dépendra de l’interprétation (et, en français, de la traduction du mot shipper)

    • Confusion Reigns Over New Container Weighing Rule | Global Trade Magazine
      http://www.globaltrademag.com/global-trade-daily/news/confusion-reigns-over-new-container-weighing-rule

      With five weeks to go before new regulation comes into effect mandating container weighing, there is still much confusion over how shippers will be able to comply, a new Drewry report concludes.

      Mandatory amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) effective July 1 require shippers—and forwarders as well if they are named as the shipper on the bill of lading—to verify and provide containers’ verified gross mass (VGM) to the ocean carrier and port terminal prior to it being loaded onto a ship.

      But Drewry found that as the countdown continues “it is clear that many shippers and forwarders still do not know how to comply. Better information on compliance requirements and options is starting to be communicated but there is still a lack of standardization and coordination.”

      Complicating matters is a recent U.S. Coast Guard pronouncement that existing U.S. laws for providing the gross verified mass of containers were equivalent to the requirements in the amendments to SOLAS. In a letter to the IMO the USCG declared that the “current regulatory regime provides for other entities within the container export chain to work in combination with the shipper” and that the “equivalency acknowledges the dynamic and flexible business relationship between the entities in the export chain, and it provides flexibility for these entities to reach arrangements in order to ensure compliance.”

      But, as Drewry noted, it’s unclear if methods acceptable to the Coast Guard for providing VGM differs from the rule as promulgated by the IMO.

    • Cosco Nagoya, 23/12/2013
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkwrIUawi10

      En effet, si un conteneur déclaré à 5 tonnes au lieu des 25 qu’il pèse réellement est placé en haut d’une pile en pontée, les efforts sur le matériel de saisissage et sur les autres conteneurs seront bien plus élevés. En augmentant le centre de gravité de la pile, on majore les risques de perte de conteneurs à la mer. C’est l’exemple du Cosco Nagoya qui a perdu 79 boîtes dans le mauvais temps le 23 décembre 2013. Une déclaration frauduleuse du poids des conteneurs avait été identifiée comme la cause de l’accident.

    • MSC Napoli 18/01/2007
      MSC Napoli second most expensive wreck in history, shows insurance report - Telegraph
      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3397327/MSC-Napoli-second-most-expensive-wreck-in-history-shows-insurance-repor

      Insurers of the 62,000-ton container ship, which suffered a “catastrophic” hull failure, have estimated the total bill for the wreck at £120 million.
      The figure means the clean-up, the salvage, the vessel and the cargo costs are second only to the 2.1 billion dollars incurred by Exxon Valdez, the tanker which spilt 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into the sea at Prince William Sound, Alaska, in 1989.
      The cost of the Napoli grounding was revealed by the London Steam-Ship Owners’ Mutual Insurance Association.
      In its annual report, the chief executive Paul Hinton said the Napoli’s pounds 120 million estimated bill was the “second most expensive claim ever”.

      Article du Marin

      Ainsi, lors de l’accident du MSC Napoli sur 660 conteneurs intacts qui n’avaient pas subi d’entrée d’eau, 137 dépassaient leur masse déclarée de 3 tonnes (le poids d’un conteneur plein peut atteindre environ 30 tonnes).

    • IMO Urges ’Pragmatic’ Approach for Launch of New Container VGM Rules - gCaptain
      https://gcaptain.com/imo-urges-pragmatic-approach-for-launch-of-new-container-vgm-rules

      The IMO has urged regulators to take a “pragmatic” approach to the new SOLAS VGM requirements for the first three months after launch.

      The body’s Maritime Safety Committee agreed that while there should be no delays to the July 1 implementation date, it would be beneficial if enforcement agencies took a “practical and pragmatic approach”.

      A circular, sent to relevant agencies, noted that a more relaxed approach initially would be particularly beneficial for containers packed before July 1, but transhipped after, and thus reaching their destination port without a verified gross mass.

      It would provide flexibility, for three months immediately after July 1 2016, to all the stakeholders in containerised transport to refine, if necessary, procedures (eg. updated software) for documenting, communicating and sharing electronic verified gross mass data,” noted the advice.

  • Polar code agreed to prevent Arctic environmental disasters | Environment | The Guardian

    http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/21/polar-code-agreed-to-prevent-arctic-environmental-disasters

    The international body in charge of sea safety adopted measures on Friday to protect people and the environment during a predicted shipping rush in the Arctic.

    But environment groups and insurers said the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Maritime Safety Committee had failed to address key issues including a proposed ban on heavy fuel oil and how to safeguard against cowboy operators.

    The committee, which met in London this week, signed off on the Polar Code and various amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea (Solas) convention. These changes, which include mandatory requirements for ship design, crew training and search and rescue protocols, are expected to be ratified by the full IMO next year and come into force in 2017.

    #arctic #imo #transport #transport_maritime #passage_du_nord_ouest

  • Polar code agreed to prevent Arctic environmental disasters | Environment | The Guardian
    http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/21/polar-code-agreed-to-prevent-arctic-environmental-disasters

    The international body in charge of sea safety adopted measures on Friday to protect people and the environment during a predicted shipping rush in the Arctic.

    But environment groups and insurers said the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Maritime Safety Committee had failed to address key issues including a proposed ban on heavy fuel oil and how to safeguard against cowboy operators.

    The committee, which met in London this week, signed off on the Polar Code and various amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea (Solas) convention. These changes, which include mandatory requirements for ship design, crew training and search and rescue protocols, are expected to be ratified by the full IMO next year and come into force in 2017.

    Melting sea ice due to global warming and pressure to cut costs makes the Arctic commercially enticing to shipping companies who want to avoid the circuitous, pirate-ridden voyage from China to Europe via the Suez Canal. Tourism, fishing and fossil fuel operations are also looking toward one of the world’s most fragile and extreme environments.

    #arctique #climat #environnement

  • IMO | Shipping in polar waters : Development of an international code of safety for ships operating in polar waters (Polar Code),

    http://www.imo.org/MediaCentre/HotTopics/polar/Pages/default.aspx

    IMO is developing a mandatory International Code of safety for ships operating in polar waters (Polar Code), to cover the full range of design, construction, equipment, operational, training, search and rescue and environmental protection matters relevant to ships operating in the inhospitable waters surrounding the two poles.

    In May 2014, the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) approved, for consideration with a view to adoption at its November 2014 session (MSC 94), the draft new SOLAS chapter XIV “Safety measures for ships operating in polar waters”, which would make mandatory the Introduction and part I-A of the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (the Polar Code).

    The MSC also approved, in principle, the draft Polar Code, with a view to adoption in conjunction with the adoption of the associated draft new SOLAS chapter XIV.

    #transport #transport_maritime #arctique #polar_code #imo #piraterie