TT Talk - Promoting new ways to make cargo handling safer

The seventh annual TT Club Innovation in Safety Awards were presented at Informa’s London headquarters on 26 February 2025. They again highlighted a wide range of innovative products, services and processes for improving cargo handling safety. Artificial intelligence (AI) monitoring systems, automated pipe spreaders, container lashing tools, smart bollards, a safety app and an emergency flash card deck for workers were among the submissions duly recognised this year.

Collaboration

The Awards are part of TT Club and ICHCA International’s joint goal of bringing together a wide audience of like-minded professionals to share experiences of safety risks and the successful solutions they have developed. The primary aim is to encourage and promote safety innovations in the global cargo handling industry.

When the Awards were launched in 2016, practical safety devices tended to be the focus of invention and improvement. Since then, technology-based solutions and advanced training and safety programmes have multiplied around the world.

Speaking after the 2025 Awards ceremony, ICHCA chief executive officer Richard Steele said, ‘Such diversity of entries is truly welcomed. Safety innovation is an exciting element that compliments wide-ranging industry work to establish distinct safety culture throughout organisations. A well-run safety-conscious operation is both efficient and sustainable.’

A well-run safety-conscious operation is both efficient and sustainable

Why the Awards are needed

Safety is at the heart of the transport and logistics industry: the well-being of the workforce and the security of cargo and equipment are at the forefront of operations throughout the world. While this is reassuring, more can always be done to improve safety. TT Club together with ICHCA will therefore continue their efforts to encourage and promote innovation wherever possible.

The 27 entries in the 2025 Innovation in Safety Awards reflected the drive by organisations throughout the cargo handling industry to improve safety standards. The Awards judges took the view that innovation does not necessarily involve state-of-the-art technology. Something which is relatively simple but works can be just as innovative. Furthermore, it may not need significant operational disruption or a large investment to put into practice.

Typically, the benefits of innovation are not isolated – a safety-related solution might also provide operational efficiencies or emissions reductions. And generally, successful innovation cannot be achieved in silos: it is essential for innovators to collaborate.

Successful innovation cannot be achieved in silos: it is essential for innovators to collaborate

The growing diversity of entries in the 2025 Awards led to them being split into four categories, with a winning and highly commended entry in each category as follows.

Turning Data into Insight Award

The first award category was Turning Data into Insight. The winner was Voxel from San Francisco in the USA for its AI-powered worksite visibility platform. This integrates with existing camera systems to transform video footage into real-time and actionable insights, enabling businesses to prevent incidents, enhance operational efficiency and foster a safety-first culture without compromising privacy or compliance.

Pandora Intelligence from Utrecht in the Netherlands was highly commended for its Cargo Intelligence system. This provides a data-driven risk assessment of cargo shipments, using data sources and predictive AI to prioritise the highest-risk cargoes.

Learning and Engagement Award

The second award category was Learning and Engagement. The winner was the London-based International Transport Workers Federation and ITF Seafarers Trust for their new OSH Ports App. This helps port workers to be safer and healthier at work, while encouraging them to join in occupational safety and health activities.

Port Skills and Safety, also based in London, was highly commended for its deck of Emergency Flash Cards. These support discussions on emergency exercises and can also be used to test the reliability of emergency plans and challenge employees’ knowledge.

Making Operations Safer Award

The third category was Making Operations Safer. The winner was RAM Spreaders, which has offices in the UK, Singapore and China, for its new Pipe Spreader. Designed to address the challenges faced in manual lashing of pipes, this provides a mechanised solution for automatic latching and unlatching, safe lifting, securing and transporting of pipes.

CEPA from Antwerp in Belgium was highly commended for developing an ergonomic container lashing tool together with a training package and safety gloves to protect lashers from injury.

Segregating People and Machine Award

The fourth and final award category was Segregating People and Machine. The winner was Straatman Mooring Systems of Zwijndrecht in the Netherlands for its new Smart Bollard, which aims to avoid dangerous overloading of mooring lines. The permanently installed bollard is equipped with sensors to measure forces in mooring ropes and communicate them in real-time to a dashboard and log load, direction, angle, tide, weather and ship history.

SSA Marine of Seattle in the USA was highly commended for its RTG proximity system. This is an AI-driven camera system on rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTG) which spots pedestrians and vehicles in its path, with automated responses including alarms and a fail-safe halt.

Conclusion

As with previous years, details of all 2025 Innovation in Safey Award entries are published in a free digest. Some of the entries plus the latest safety innovations will then be showcased by the TT Club and ICHCA at their Safety Village at the TOC Europe conference on 17–19 June 2025. The cycle continues in September 2025, when entries for the 2026 Innovation in Safey Awards open.

The excellence of the many safety innovations being continually developed in the cargo handling sector mean they deserve a greater degree of visibility, which is the primary purpose of the Awards and the TOC Europe Safety Village. By giving these ideas oxygen, TT Club and ICHCA hope to stimulate their adoption and adaption within the global transport and logistics industry, helping to make it safer, more secure and more sustainable.

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