In a speech given to the Trans Middle East Conference in Qatar in May, Andrew Kemp, Regional Director EMEA of the freight transport insurance specialist TT Club, called for operators to do more to minimise the causes of incidents resulting in bodily injury, cargo and property damage

London 18 June, 2014

Analysis of extensive TT Club data has shown that over 80% of insurance claims related to cargo handling at ports and terminals are the result of operational shortcomings or poor equipment maintenance.  “It is clear,” emphasised Kemp, “that many of these incidents are avoidable if operators were to pay greater attention to some basic safety related processes and give a higher standard of training to their employees.”

In addition, the presentation to freight industry professionals from across the Middle East region stressed the economic validity of well-advised insurance cover.  Kemp quoted from UK Health & Safety Executive research.  “This national authority estimated that for every pound sterling spent on insurance there is between eight and thirty-six pounds of costs incurred through the consequences of uninsured incidents.  These expenses cover such outgoings as emergency supplies, reputational damage, operational delays and increased maintenance and training requirements after the event, let alone the costs of management time,” he highlighted.

The analysis of a total of over 9,500 claims, carried out by the Club on data received over the past seven years, showed that a low percentage, just 5%, were caused by weather or similar natural causes.  The vast majority came as a result of much more avoidable causes – a quarter being due to poor maintenance of property or equipment and some 66% down to failures in some facet of the operation.

Much can be learned from the analysis of these operational issues.  Kemp stated, “We found that over a half of incidents involved the internal systems and processes of the operator and another quarter were due to theft.  These types of claim are most assuredly to be placed in the category of preventable,” he said.

Terminal and cargo handling facility operators are therefore strongly urged to employ effective monitoring and checking procedures, a regular training regime and to maintain industry best practice for safety and security.  The conference presentation exemplified a number of situations where a lack of traffic flow systems and speed limits, allowing people into operational areas and use of inferior spare parts on lifting equipment (to name just a few examples) regularly caused damage and injury.

As a result TT Club can, and frequently does, offer effective advice on loss prevention and risk management.  “Prevention can be successfully achieved via a combination of safe and physically secure facilities and equipment, rigorous checks and double-checks on safety procedures, combined with well-trained, well-motivated employees and trusted partners,” concluded Kemp.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

TT Club is the international transport and logistics industry’s leading provider of insurance and related risk management services.  As a mutual insurer, the TT Club exists to provide its policyholders with benefits, which include specialist underwriting expertise, a world-wide office network providing claims management services, and first class risk management and loss prevention advice.

Customers include some of the world’s largest shipping lines, busiest ports, biggest freight forwarders and cargo handling terminals, to companies operating on a smaller scale but whose operations face similar risks. TT Club specialises in the insurance of Intermodal Operators, NVOCs, Freight Forwarders, Logistics Operators, Marine Terminals, Stevedores, Port Authorities and Ship Operators.

www.ttclub.com

In a speech given yesterday at the ASEAN Ports & Shipping Conference in Jakarta, Phillip Emmanuel, Regional Director Asia-Pacific of the freight transport insurance specialist TT Club, called for operators to do more to minimise preventable accidents that result in bodily injury, cargo and property damage

Hong Kong 12^th June, 2014

As a leading freight transport insurer TT Club numbers many port terminals a cargo handling facilities among its Members and as such occupies a prime position from which to identify the primary causes of risk and to advise on how such causes can be minimised.  An extensive analysis the Club’s historic claims data has shown that 68% of the cost of claims results from incidents of an operational nature within the port or terminal and a further 14% from poor or insufficient maintenance.  The remainder were weather related.

“It is clear,” emphasised Emmanuel, “that many of these incidents are avoidable if operators were to pay greater attention to some key safety related processes, install more available technology to help prevent collisions and give a higher standard to training to their employees.”

The analysis of a total of over 9,500 claims over a seven-year period totalled some US$ 400 million and covered bodily injury, property and equipment damage and liability.

Emmanuel was at pains to point out that much can be learned from the analysis and that TT Club is ready, willing and able to advise its Members and the industry in general on how such incidents can be avoided and claims minimised.  “The reduction of claims assists the efficiency and profitability of many operators.  It is not just the unforeseen costs of such accidents and the crucial eradication of injury to staff and third parties that results from good risk management,” argued Emmanuel.   “The reputation of the cargo handling organisation is enhanced through an improved safety record.  Operational delays are lessened and customer service levels heightened,” he emphasised.

TT Club strongly urges the use of industry best practice when it comes to safety and security procedures, regular training regimes for management and employees and the inclusion of quality safety devices when designing handling equipment specifications and/or budgeting for retrofitting such devices.

In his presentation to industry professional from throughout the ASEAN region Emmanuel gave several examples of how the later measure can be particularly effective.  “31% of the quay crane damage identified in our analysis was as a result of crane boom collisions; either crane-to-crane or the crane boom hitting a vessel.  There is a good choice of effective boom anti-collision sensors on the market, which if installed professionally and maintained correctly would avert a large number of these accidents,” he noted.  In the container yard, automated stack profiling systems are also available, which would have helped avoid some of the 339 claims incidents experienced by TT over the seven years covered by its causal analysis.

Likewise much of the cost of theft can be alleviated by employing improved security regimes.  These may involve physical barriers such as better fencing and more CCTVs but should also include more effective processes such as paperwork checks and IT anti-hacking software.

Emmanuel concluded, “Prevention through careful risk management is by far the best cure for costly incidents.  A combination of safe and physically secure facilities and equipment; rigorous checks and double-checks on safety procedures and well-trained, well-motivated employees will go a long way to improve operational loss in ports.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

TT Club is the international transport and logistics industry’s leading provider of insurance and related risk management services.  As a mutual insurer, the TT Club exists to provide its policyholders with benefits, which include specialist underwriting expertise, a world-wide office network providing claims management services, and first class risk management and loss prevention advice.

Customers include some of the world’s largest shipping lines, busiest ports, biggest freight forwarders and cargo handling terminals, to companies operating on a smaller scale but whose operations face similar risks. TT Club specialises in the insurance of Intermodal Operators, NVOCs, Freight Forwarders, Logistics Operators, Marine Terminals, Stevedores, Port Authorities and Ship Operators.
www.ttclub.com

Contacts:

Media:

Peter Owen

ISIS Communications

Tel: +44 (0)1737 248300

E-mail: info@isiscomms.com  

TT Club:

Tally Judge

Tel: +44 (0)20 7204 2632

E-mail: tally.judge@thomasmiller.com

www.ttclub.com

Freight and logistics professionals at Multimodal 2014 this week will hear specialist insurer TT Club’s Risk Management Director, Peregrine Storrs-Fox and other experts warn of the hazards of incorrect packing of containers and CTUs of all types

29 April 2014

Much industry attention recently has been focussed on the debate surrounding the degree to which inaccurately declared cargo weights cause accidents involving Cargo Transport Units (CTUs), in particular maritime containers.  Poor weight information has been cited as a cause of such incidents as container stack collapse, road and terminal vehicle overturning, crane failure or even contributing to ship loss.

However, while still important to achieve improved regulation of verified gross mass, the reality is that accurate cargo weights contribute in only a small part to safety in the supply chain.  The way in which cargo is packed and secured in CTUs is arguably far more significant, leading – where incorrectly carried out – to loads shifting and cargo spillages.   Accident investigations into cargo claims received by TT Club frequently identify poor load distribution, improperly packed cargo and inadequate blocking, bracing and securing, including inappropriate use of dunnage.

Such a finding is echoed by the ocean carriers’ Cargo Incident Notification System (CINS), where a third of incidents investigated were found to have this cause. The loss to the industry is substantial, resulting in direct expense, operational disruption and management distraction, not to mention litigation or insurance costs.

Along with speakers from the International Cargo Handling Co-ordination Association (ICHCA), the International Transport Worker’s Federation (ITF) and the Freight Transport Association (FTA), Storrs-Fox will underline the crucial importance of promoting the need for ‘best practice’ guidelines for cargo packing procedures.   “For many years SOLAS (International convention for the Safety of Life at Sea) and the IMDG Code (International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code) have referenced the IMO/ILO/UNECE* ‘Guidelines for Packing Cargo Transport Units to assist those involved in packing containers and other

transport units. Recent revisions to these Guidelines have been approved as a Code of Practice by the UNECE, with the other two bodies due to endorse them later this year.  It is vital that, as an industry, we do our utmost to promote this new CTU Code as a minimum operational standard,” he said.

As part of this effort TT Club has commissioned the expert e-learning course designer Exis Technologies to develop the CTUpack e-learning^TM course.  This is an online training tool for those involved in the packing and unpacking of cargo transport units (CTU).  The first release of CTUpack is a foundation level course and was launched in January.

Students are assessed continuously through the course and receive a course completion certificate which records their final score. The e-learning course is accessed via the web and is available for individual training or for national, regional or global company training programmes. Multiple courses are managed using Exis Technologies’ e-learning management system, which provides administrator functions for setting up courses and monitoring students’ records.

The CTUpack e-learning™ will evolve to reflect any further changes to the UN documents and other industry best practice guidance.

Storrs-Fox concludes, “CTUpack e-learning™ follows the well-established IMDG Code e-learning training course from Exis, which is also sponsored by TT Club.  Both courses fit closely with the risk management approach that the Club has always fostered among the global freight transport community.  As in other operational sectors of the industry, training is clearly the number one loss prevention measure and, if adopted as a core feature of the operator’s culture, can greatly reduce the number of incidents incurred globally each year throughout the industry.  We have already seen promising interest in the course since its launch in January, but we are now working with Exis to disseminate information about the course on an international level. ”

Visit TT Club & Exis Technologies on Stand #1049 at Multimodal www.multimodal.org.uk

CTUpack e-learning™ can be purchased directly from www.ctupack.com

* International Labour Organization/International Maritime Organization/United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

ENDS

About TT Club:

The TT Club is the international transport and logistics industry’s leading provider of insurance and related risk management services.  As a mutual insurer, the TT Club exists to provide its policyholders with benefits, which include specialist underwriting expertise, a world-wide office network providing claims management services, and first class risk management and loss prevention advice.

Customers include some of the world’s largest shipping lines, busiest ports, biggest freight forwarders and cargo handling terminals, to companies operating on a smaller scale but whose operations face similar risks.  TT Club specialises in the insurance of Intermodal Operators, NVOCs, Freight Forwarders, Logistics Operators, Marine Terminals, Stevedores, Port Authorities and Ship Operators.

www.ttclub.com

About Exis Technologies:

Exis Technologies, headquartered in Darlington, UK, is the leading supplier of compliance systems for the management of dangerous goods in sea transport.  For over 25 years major container shipping lines, ports and shippers have been relying on Hazcheck Systems for regulatory compliance, efficiency and safety in their global operations. They serve 80% of the top container lines.

Exis Technologies also develops e-learning courses.  IMDG Code e-learning is a cost-effective training solution for shore side staff that has been implemented by half of the top 20 container lines as well as shippers and logistics operations worldwide. CTUpack e-learning is the latest addition to their training courses.

www.existec.com/solutions.aspx