TT Club has been at the heart of a long-term campaign to increase awareness of good cargo packing practices, both as part of responding to incidents and through speaking at industry events. These efforts are now galvanised in the 'Cargo Integrity Group'.
Coinciding with the international launch of 'CTU Code - a quick guide', the Safe Container Loading Practices and Heavy Vehicle Safety campaign was launched in Australia, following an award of government funding. While the emphasis is on road safety in Australia, the messages are consistent with those of the Cargo Integrity Group.
Appreciating that where opportunity exists, innovation follows, TT closely monitors developments in a number of sectors. Developments in supply chain security in particular are of high interest, whether it is a new locking device, a tamperproof security seal, smart containers or initiatives to make wholesale fundamental changes to the current security landscape.
The curse of cargo theft continues to impact stakeholders in the supply chain. Analysis of incidents, increased data sharing agreements, collaborations and widespread dissemination of findings, all serve to improve understanding of the underlying risks.
Non-declared or mis-declared cargo entered into the international supply chain, vastly increases the risk to cargo, property, the environment and most importantly the lives of all individuals moving the goods.
This judgment sets out a useful analysis of contracts where a court will examine the conduct of the parties and surrounding circumstances to reach a conclusion. Carriers should be alerted to the importance of knowing who they are dealing with, ensuring that the shipper on a bill of lading is correctly identified.
Apart from the recent devastating explosion in Beirut, there has been a spate of ro-ro/car carrier fires in recent months, leading to fresh calls for improvements, scrutiny and control in relation to dangerous goods (DG). Container ship fires are always in mind.
The use of standardised containers for much of global trade has become second nature; the range of cargo types utilising such units continues to expand. There is significant reliance placed by the various stakeholders on the overall integrity of the concept, some explicit and some implicit.
TT Club has previously reported on incident experience whereby containers have dropped from lifting equipment during handling operations. Recurrence appears, as previously, to have nothing to do with the intrinsic quality of the corner castings. The reliability of the lifting process is critical.
A previous article highlighted the exploitation of the global transport network by wildlife traffickers and the threats posed to the sector, including to human health and security. Here we revisit this important topic, considering wider risks associated with wildlife crime and their impact on the legitimate supply chain.
Uncollected cargo has long been a challenge for stakeholders in the supply chain. Notwithstanding the attention, debate and advice around the topic, it remains at the forefront of logistics operators' minds. Every year the delay or failure of the consignee to collect cargo results in substantial storage, demurrage and detention costs. Such issues are invariably complex and require expensive management time to resolve.
