TT Club has appointed Abdul Fahl to take up the role of TTMS (Gulf) Director. The move follows the return to London from Dubai of Julien Horn who will continue in the position of Portfolio Underwriter for the Middle East, Eastern Med and African region and reiterates the TT’s long-standing commitment to provide insurance solutions and unique support for its regional Membership and brokers.

Dubai & London, 30^th September, 2020

The TT Club is committed to its Middle East and African Membership and is looking to build upon the successful growth and enhanced local service achieved by Julien Horn during his time in Dubai.  Recognising the importance of a local contact and real-time assistance for its growing customer base in these regions, TT has announced the executive appointment of Abdul Fahl.

After six and a half years with TTMS(Gulf), the transport and logistics specialist’s well-established joint venture Network Partner in Dubai, Julien Horn has returned to TT’s headquarters in London to continue in his role as Portfolio Senior Underwriter, and leader of his underwriting team. Julien will be focused on ensuring Members continue to receive the highest level of quality and bespoke underwriting service across the Middle East, Eastern Mediterranean and African regions.

In announcing the move Mark Argentieri, TT Club’s Regional Director, EMEA said, “Julien has done a great job increasing TT’s presence in the region and providing on-the-spot support to our local Membership. He has strengthened relationships with not only our Members, but also brokers and local stakeholders, his success has led directly to an increase in our Membership in the region. As Julien returns to London to continue his underwriting duties, our team there will benefit hugely from his ‘on the ground’ experience.  His presence alongside his underwriters, will undoubtedly bring benefits to our goal of enhancing our tailored service.”

Abdul Fahl has now taken over from Julien as TTMS (Gulf) Director in Dubai. Abdul brings a wealth of diverse experience in both claims and legal affairs.  In addition to filling the roles of Claims Executive and Senior Claims Executive during his seven and a half year career at TT Club in London, Abdul has worked within the industry for a number of years at a major shipping line. Abdul has a master degree in maritime law and speaks Arabic, skills which we are confident will add further benefit to the region’s Members. Abdul will be spearheading the development of TT’s regional growth, while continuing the focus on local bespoke services to our existing Members and their brokers in the region.

Abdul’s past contributions to TT service have been many and varied; his claims handling, business development and extensive loss prevention work through seminars and more recently webinars have benefited both Members and the wider industry.  In his new position Abdul will drive forward a number of local initiatives in support of TT’s mission to make the transport and logistics industry safer and more secure.

“It is fantastic to have Abdul ready and able to step in to build upon Julien’s great work in the region” said Argentieri.  “His presence in Dubai, will assure Members of our continued drive for the very best standard of service for which TT has become rightly known.  In his new position, Abdul will be adept at introducing new ways to deliver added value and local service through vital local two-way communication to an expanding regional Membership.”

About TT Club

TT Club is the established market-leading independent provider of mutual insurance and related risk management services to the international transport and logistics industry. TT Club’s primary objective is to help make the industry safer and more secure. Founded in 1968, the Club has more than 1100 Members, spanning container owners and operators, ports and terminals, and logistics companies, working across maritime, road, rail, and air. TT Club is renowned for its high-quality service, in-depth industry knowledge and enduring Member loyalty. It retains more than 93% of its Members with a third of its entire membership having chosen to insure with the Club for 20 years or more.

www.ttclub.com

JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT

On behalf of Container Owners Association, Global Shippers Forum, ICHCA International, TT Club, World Shipping Council

1600 BST Monday 14 September 2020

Five international freight transport and cargo handling organisations are collaborating on the production of new guidance on packing standards for freight containers and other cargo transport units.   The Container Owners Association, the Global Shippers Forum, the International Cargo Handling Co-ordination Association, the TT Club and the World Shipping Council are co-operating on a range of activities to further the adoption and implementation of crucial safety practices throughout the global supply chain. 

As part of this longstanding cooperation, the five organisations have today published a ‘Quick Guide’ to the United Nations sponsored Code of Practice for Packing of Cargo Transport Units (the CTU Code), together with a Checklist of actions and responsibilities for the guidance of those undertaking the packing of cargoes in freight containers specifically.

Dedicated to improving the safety, security and environmental performance throughout the logistics supply chain, one of the aims of this collaboration is to promote awareness and wider use of the IMO/ILO/UNECE Code of Practice for Packing of Cargo Transport Units – the CTU Code.

There have been several widely reported container fires aboard ships, where containerised cargoes may have been the cause of, or contributed to, such fires. The organisations believe that consistent, widespread and diligent adherence to the CTU Code by all parties within global CTU supply chains would significantly reduce these types of incidents, some of which have resulted in fatalities and serious injuries amongst ships’ crews and shore-side staff.

Other occurrences, such as container stack failures, vehicle roll-overs, train derailments, internal cargo collapses and incidents of invasive pest contamination, can also be traced to poor packing practices. The organisations believe that a greater awareness of the CTU Code and the packing practices and techniques it contains will help to reduce such incidents.

To do this the organisations are working together as the Cargo Integrity Group and have identified the following four areas of activity to raise the awareness and improve understanding of safe cargo packing practices:

1. Promoting awareness and adoption of the CTU Code, of which the guidance material published today is an example.
2. Seeking changes in regulatory requirements to improve their clarity, application, implementation and enforcement, including to the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code.Monitoring of CTU packing performance through support for strengthened cargo screening
3. processes and more effective container inspection regimes
4. Working with other industry and governmental stakeholders in promoting awareness and better understanding of safe cargo packing and handling practices.

The five organisations each commented on today’s announcements:

Improving understanding of the CTU Code’s many requirements is central to the work of the group, as Capt. Richard Brough OBE of ICHCA International explains:

“A key objective of our mission is promoting awareness of the CTU Code. We have a dedicated set of outcomes designed to achieve this aim, which begins with the publication of our ‘CTU Code – a Quick Guide’. We want the Code to be as accessible to as many operatives as possible and hope this Quick Guide will encourage them to learn how the Code can be applied to their own particular needs.”

Lars Kjaer from WSC comments on another of the Group’s objectives,

“We believe it is important to pro-actively review and, where needed, revise existing regulatory provisions to enhance ship, crew and worker safety,” he explains. “For example, working closely with other partners, we have been able to ensure the launching of a considered review of the maritime Special Provisions in the IMO’s International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code. Such Special Provisions may today lead to exemptions from the Code’s safety and documentary requirements with the result that the carrier may not be able to take necessary precautionary measures.”

Other significant steps have been made in recent months with initiatives to screen cargo effectively, particularly responding to the concerns over the mis-declaration of shipments.

“Carriers have been advancing their capability to screen cargo at the time of booking in order to combat the curses of error and fraud that cause misdeclarations and unacceptable risk for the industry,” says TT Club’s Peregrine Storrs-Fox. “Such actions can also support and empower industry and government sponsored container inspection programmes that are fundamental to improving good practice and understanding how regulations actually operate. It is thus part of CIG’s third objective to participate in the ongoing revision of the IMO Circular regarding container inspection programmes and support related industry cargo screening initiatives.”

Uffe Ernst-Frederiksen of the Container Owners Association commented on a further key aspect of the new documents:

“The IMO/ILO/UNECE CTU Code describes in chapter 4 the roles and responsibilities of parties in the container supply chain for the safe packing, handling, stowage and transport of containers and the correct reporting of their actual weights”

“However, often overlooked is that the CTU Code also deals with supply chain parties’ responsibilities to minimize visible pest contamination from containers and their cargoes. It is therefore appropriate that the material we are publishing today draws attention to this important issue, stressing that minimizing pest contamination of containers and their cargoes is a shared responsibility. Our material also makes reference to guidance material recently developed and published by the IPPC’s Sea Container Task Force of which COA is a member that aims at assisting parties in the containerized supply chains in trying to ensure that containers and their cargoes remain free from visible pest contamination. One of the key objectives of the SCTF is to promote voluntary government-industry cooperation on minimizing pest contamination of CTUs. Our five organizations fully support this objective and call on all parties in the international containerized supply chains to actively support and participate in such voluntary programs, and to play their role in meeting the objective of minimizing visible pest contamination.”

Perhaps the greatest challenge in minimising cargo-related issues is that of creating the necessary awareness throughout the huge number of businesses active in the shipment of goods by intermodal container and other types of cargo transport units. Connecting with other stakeholders, and through them with the wider industry and governmental agencies, is the fourth objective of the Group. James Hookham of GSF says,

“Today is a marker on a journey to raise wider awareness of this critical issue across the globe and adoption of safe practices. Our organisations cannot do this on their own and we are reaching out to other bodies in the supply chain and in governmental agencies to join with us in promoting high standards of the packing of all cargo transport units and understanding the inter-connectedness of differing objectives”.

The organisations would welcome the support and active assistance from other representative bodies, individual companies and governmental agencies committed to supporting and achieving the four objectives. Contact can be made through any of the organisations listed below.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The five organisations co-operating in the Cargo integrity Group are:

• Container Owners Association (COA)
Media Contact: Patrick Hicks, Secretary, Container Owners Association,
secretary@containerownersassociation.org

• Global Shippers Forum (GSF)
Media contact: James Hookham, Secretary General, jhookham@globalshippersforum.com
Tel: +44 7818 45 04 40

• International Cargo Handling Co-ordination Association (ICHCA International)
Media contact: Peter Owen, Portcare International, info@portcare.com
Tel: +44 1737 248300

• TT Club
Media contact: Peter Owen, Portcare International, info@portcare.com
Tel: +44 1737 248300

• World Shipping Council (WSC)
Media contact: Anne Marie Kappel, Vice President, Strategy & Communication,
akappel@worldshipping.org Tel: +1 202 589 1235

Leading freight transport and logistics insurer TT Club is reflecting the evolving digital landscape in its new logo and revamped website. Increased accessibility to data, information and streamlined processes are the key aims of the insurance specialist’s investments in digitisation

London, 2^nd September, 2020

Although COVID-19 has accelerated digitalisation, TT had already embarked on its path to digital transformation.  Planned investment has now reached a stage were TM Connect has improved on the existing ClaimsTrac tool and a new website has allowed increased access to TT’s valued loss prevention advisory services.  Such digital advances will increasingly allow TT to work in more innovative ways, adding value for its insured through the application of robotics, artificial intelligence, mining big data and other digital functionality.

As part of its 50^th Anniversary celebrations in 2019, TT undertook to investigate what the next 25 years in the international logistics industry would bring. What it found was profound changes in the use of digital services*. “In responding to these findings our investment is taking increasing advantage of digital opportunities to enhance the customer facing elements of our business namely underwriting, claims fulfilment and loss prevention,” explained Charles Fenton, TT’s Chief Executive Officer. “Our new logo reflects TT’s focus on the digital sphere, by adapting the logo to work seamlessly in the on and offline world.”

TT Club’s risk management role, delivered through its loss prevention advisory service, is crucial to the protection of client’s operations across the multi-modal transport industry. The new website is in part designed to assist the access to such information, ensuring TT’s wealth of loss prevention articles and publications is available to not only its insured, but the industry as a whole. TT continues to explore multi-media channels through which to distribute their advice, including the new website, social media, TT’s series of successful seminars and its recently introduced programme of webinars.

TT’s investment in digitisation looks not only to improve access to loss prevention materials, but also to better aid its Members with the management of their insurance. Available via its website, TM Connect is TT’s new online services platform, developed by TT Club’s managers Thomas Miller. It is designed to enhance online accessibility to services and data for Members and their brokers. “TM Connect affords 24/7 access to all insurance documents, whether it is policies, payments and debit notes, premium balances or claims records. Indeed, the portal acts as successor to TT’s venerated ClaimsTrac and undoubtedly represents the future of communication with our Members” said Fenton.

These latest investments by TT Club are clear signposts to a digital future in which the technological opportunities that continue to present themselves will be investigated. TT intends to further exploit such opportunities as appropriate to better serve its clients as they tackle the dynamic challenges constantly presented throughout the global supply chain.

*The investigation’s report entitled ‘Brave New World’ can be found here

ENDS

About TT Club

TT Club is the established market-leading independent provider of mutual insurance and related risk management services to the international transport and logistics industry. TT Club’s primary objective is to help make the industry safer and more secure. Founded in 1968, the Club has more than 1100 Members, spanning container owners and operators, ports and terminals, and logistics companies, working across maritime, road, rail, and air. TT Club is renowned for its high-quality service, in-depth industry knowledge and enduring Member loyalty. It retains more than 93% of its Members with a third of its entire membership having chosen to insure with the Club for 20 years or more.

www.ttclub.com

The freight insurer’s investment is seen as a significant initiative in developing a unified platform to help hauliers and drivers control the risks of theft and damage effecting the most vulnerable transport mode in the supply chain

London, 25^th August 2020

Bringing together the existing technology of a reputable road haulage app and detailed crime data, which maps the cargo and fuel theft hotspots provided by the Freight Unit of the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS), TT Club’s investment will enable informed decisions leading to a safer and more secure road freight sector.

The Motorway Buddy smartphone app is an established suite of products recognised by the UK government and trade organisations as the go-to truck stop locator for UK and European drivers. The app is a driver-friendly compliance and safety management tool, among other functions it provides the location of over 300 recognised truck stop facilities across the UK.

From its collaboration with BSI in producing an annual cargo theft report [click HERE], TT Club recognises that in Europe over 60% of reported cargo thefts occur in transit, typically in rest areas or unsecured parking areas. “There is a critical need for hauliers and drivers to be able to make informed risk decisions when it comes to parking their vehicle,” said TT Club’s Managing Director, Loss Prevention Mike Yarwood. “The development of Motorway Buddy, which we are funding, will enable a data-informed, proactive approach to a constantly evolving risk environment.”

The intention is for Motorway Buddy to become a unified platform, merging its existing truck stop and driver compliance functionality with the theft and crime data provided by NaVCIS to produce a series of heat maps visualising recorded cargo and fuel theft incidents. The data will be updated on a three-month rolling basis, with 12 months of data displayed at any one time.

Chris Holloway, founder of Motorway Buddy, said, “Since the inception of Motorway Buddy our team have always looked at ways of solving the logistics industry’s pain points. Having worked as a driver for over 20 years, and alongside trade associations for the past 9, it has become increasingly apparent that freight crime continues to be a major problem throughout Europe and we are now tremendously excited to be working with the TT Club and NaVCIS Freight to help solve this serious issue.”

The software development will begin immediately with a view to launching the enhanced features on the app in two to three months’ time. For account holders there will also be the ability to record parking facility characteristics (CCTV, secure fencing, and security guard) for future use by hauliers, and insurers if the need arises.

Additional functionality based on statutory driving hours will enable the driver to enter their statutory hours remaining and current location. The app will visually ring fence on the map where the driver can approximately reach within their driving time. The driver can then overlay this map with the crime data to make an informed decision as to where to park their vehicle.

“While available to foreign drivers, the app is in Polish and Romanian language as well as English, the extent of the heat map is currently limited to the UK, we would however envisage an eventual pan-European roll-out,” explained Yarwood. “TT remains committed to a core mission of increasing safety and security in the supply chain and sees this current initiative as part of its central role in allowing operators, in this case haulage managers, principals and drivers, access to data which informs their risk management decisions, as well as supporting liability assessments and possible litigation.”

ENDS

About TT Club

TT Club is the established market-leading independent provider of mutual insurance and related risk management services to the international transport and logistics industry. TT Club’s primary objective is to help make the industry safer and more secure. Founded in 1968, the Club has more than 1100 Members, spanning container owners and operators, ports and terminals, and logistics companies, working across maritime, road, rail, and air. TT Club is renowned for its high-quality service, in-depth industry knowledge and enduring Member loyalty. It retains more than 93% of its Members with a third of its entire membership having chosen to insure with the Club for 20 years or more.

www.ttclub.com

About Motorway Buddy (MWB) App

The Motorway Buddy smart phone App is an established suite of products recognised by UK government and trade organisations as the go-to truck-stop locator for UK and European drivers. The App was developed in 2011 by a former HGV driver, as a driver friendly compliance and safety management tool. The App provides the location of over 300 recognised truck stop facilities across the United Kingdom. The App is currently available in English, Romanian and Polish.

www.motorwaybuddy.com

For more information on how to support the work of the NaVCIS’ Freight Unit and to help mitigate the risk of cargo theft, please contact freight@navcis.pnn.police.uk