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What software is available to help professionals comply with transport of dangerous goods regulation?
In a sector where many rules are yet to be made available online, HCB managing editor Peter Mackay looks at digital tools in the market that aim to provide a way for shippers to make the compliance process easier.
It might be thought that digitalising the compliance function in the transport and storage of dangerous goods should be relatively straightforward. There is a welldefined set of substances and articles covered by the various regulations, and many “rules” that might lend themselves to digitalisation. However, in practice, it has proved difficult to develop an end-to-end software solution for international transport involving different modes. While there is a significant degree of harmonisation, certainly in terms of the structure of the different sets of regulations, each has its own particular variations from the UN Model Regulations – or the Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods. Even within the different modes there are local differences, such as with the relief granted for the transport of goods by ferry in the Baltic Sea, or for air consignment of otherwise “forbidden” dangerous goods by air to remote parts of Canada and Alaska.
Nor even are the regulations themselves generally available in a digital format. The UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) makes the UN Model Regulations, ADR (the road transport regulations in force across Europe and in some other countries) and ADN (which covers inland waterway transport in Europe) freely available on its website, but only in a searchable PDF format. The same is true for the US Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR), Canada’s Transportation of Dangerous Goods Regulations and the Australian Dangerous Goods (ADG) Code. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) does make the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code available in an e-reader format, as well as in hard copy, but this has to be paid for.
However, even this far into the 21st century, the other “main” sets of regulations are not even available in a PDF format and must also be paid for. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) publishes its Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air every two years. Meanwhile, the Regulation concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail (RID), in effect in most of Europe, is only published in hard copy in English and French.
Air transport
Most duty-holders in the air transport sector use the Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) published by the airlines’ trade body, the International Air Transport Association (IATA). This book includes all the material from the ICAO Technical Instructions (which remains the “legal” document) but incorporates other information, notably the list of variations imposed by carriers and states. The DGR must be bought from IATA or one of its distributors; the 2023 edition is available in print or digital format.
The main advantage of using the digital version is that it is automatically updated – IATA is unusual in publishing an annual edition, which covers changes to the state and carrier variations as well as urgent safety-related amendments. The digital version also has embedded links so that users can go directly to pertinent information in other parts of the DGR.
IATA has taken this concept even further, with DG AutoCheck, launched in 2018. DG AutoCheck is a digital solution that enables airlines, ground handlers and freight forwarders to automatically check the compliance of the Shipper’s Declaration for Dangerous Goods (DGD) against all relevant provisions of the DGR. Speaking at the launch of DG
AutoCheck, Dave Brennan, assistant director of cargo safety and standards at IATA, explained: “The DGR lists over 3,000 entries for dangerous goods. Each one of which must comply with the DGR when shipped. The paper DGR is 1,100 pages long. Manually checking that each Shipper’s Declaration is compliant and the package(s) are correctly, marked, labelled and packaged is a complex and timeconsuming task. Automation with DG AutoCheck brings us a giant step forward. The cargo supply chain will benefit from greater efficiency, streamlined processes and enhanced safety.”
Compliance along the chain
This development highlights an important element of the digitalisation of the compliance function in the transport sector: not only does it have to be able to ensure compliance on the part of the shipper or consignor that puts the dangerous goods into the supply chain, but it has ideally to be able to demonstrate that compliance to other participants downstream as the goods are passed from hand to hand until they arrive at their ultimate destination.
To be able to do that, software has to be based on common standards, something that has been hard to develop in the complex world of transport regulations and the various national legislations to which they refer. Doing so has been the goal of DGOffice.net, which after several years of development now offers an online software solution that is providing the basis for an increasing number of products to aid compliance.
For example, in September this year the Dutch technical publisher Verloop Uitgeverij combined with DGOffice. net to offer its regulatory and training publications in digital formats. Verloop has long worked to maintain a library of regulatory publications, with its customers being largely trainers and safety advisers; moving to a digital platform will, Verloop says, will make those publications readily available to those who work with them. In October, the Cargo Community Network (CCN) launched a suite of dangerous goods-related solutions through its open data platform, CUBEforall, based on DGOffice.net’s solutions, allowing users to work within one environment. Targeted primarily at the air transport sector, users can create compliant dangerous goods declarations and, through CUBEforall, share documents and data in real time with relevant parties in the supply chain, including forwarders, ground handlers and carriers. For those downstream of the shipper, it means they can have greater confidence in the data they receive and can also reuse it for their own purposes.
Initiatives such as this are important. In this year’s annual DG Confidence Survey, carried out by Labelmaster in collaboration with IATA and HCB, more than half of the dangerous goods professionals surveyed said they had problems in accessing complete and accurate data, and in harmonising processes across the supply chain; 44% reported problems in having shipments rejected by carriers or forwarders. One of the main recommendations arising from the survey was that companies should invest more in the kinds of software that can not only ensure compliance but also maintain that compliance all the way from the shipper to the final destination.
Cargo at sea
Digitalising the air transport chain has, largely through the efforts of IATA (which has, over decades, done the same for passenger ticketing) proved not only possible but fruitful. The maritime sector, on the other hand, has struggled. There is no overarching trade body comparable to IATA, so it has been left to other interests to pick up the baton and address the issues presented by the shipment of dangerous goods by sea, both in packaged and bulk form.
One major issue has been that most packaged dangerous goods form part of the containerised supply chain, where there are many players involved. Furthermore, while the IMDG Code sets out the regulatory requirements for maritime carriage, there is a lot of grit in the system arising from carriers’ restrictions on the goods they are prepared to carry (and how to pack them, where to stow them onboard etc). These restrictions are based partly on experience but also on the restrictions imposed by the ports and terminals at which ships will call. While some carriers expend a great deal of effort to keep up with these restrictions (which change frequently), that information is not collated publicly and shippers regularly report that their consignments have been rejected, despite being in full compliance with the IMDG Code.
The primary provider of compliance software and IT systems is Exis Technologies, which was founded in the UK in 1987 and, since 2018, has been owned by National Cargo Bureau (NCB). Its core product is Hazcheck Systems, which has been consistently developed from early attempts to “computerise” the IMDG Code in order to allow operators to get rapid answers to questions of classification, packaging, segregation, stowage and documentation. Hazcheck Systems is now used by nine of the ten largest container lines.
Exis and NCB have continued to develop IT solutions in the areas of compliance and safety. Exis took part in the establishment of the Cargo Incident Notification System (CINS), which allows liner operators to share information with the aim of reducing the number of dangerous goods incidents at sea. In 2020, Exis/NCB launched Hazcheck Detect in response to the increasing number of shipboard incidents arising from undeclared or misdeclared dangerous goods; this builds on work done by some of the lines to automatically scan booking information for “suspicious” declarations; four of the largest container lines now use the system and each has brought its experience to add to the project. More recently, Exis/NCB launched Hazcheck Inspections, a web database and portal for planning, recording and analysing container inspections and
promoting the development of common inspection standards.
For the shipment of dangerous goods in bulk, the leading software provider is Q88, whose Milbros cargo handling and cleaning information system is said to be used by more than 85% of the major chemical tanker operators. As with Exis’ Hazcheck systems, Milbros has developed the scope of its IT solutions over several decades, starting out with a focus on cargo handling and tank cleaning and expanding into areas such as prior cargo warnings, phosphoric acid compatibility, UV reference graphs for wash water test results, a library of safety data sheets (SDSs), personal protection equipment recommendations, and US Coast Guard compatibility checks. Q88 also responds to technical developments and, following some concern around self-polymerising cargoes, introduced in January this year a styrene monomer temperature log and inhibitor depletion tool to its portfolio.
Q88 itself was acquired in May this year by Veson Nautical, which describes itself as a “digital transformation” company.
Useful links
Australian Dangerous Goods (ADG) Code www.ntc.gov.au/codes-and-guidelines/ australian-dangerous-goods-code Veson was established to build a standard platform for commercial vessel operations, not focusing on dangerous goods; it received a “significant” equity injection in March 2022 that has allowed it to pursue its growth strategy, which included the provision of more technical IT solutions such as the Milbros system.
Move into software
The software systems reviewed so far all have a dominant position in their sector but there are many other system providers in the market that all attempt to provide a way for shippers to make the compliance process easier. US-based Labelmaster, for example, offers the Dangerous Goods Information System (DGIS), which instantly validates shipment data against the latest regulations, prints the necessary documentation and provides an illustration of how the package must be labelled. DGIS handles US and Canadian domestic regulations, ADR, IATA, IMDG Code and Afman, the US military’s own dangerous goods rules.
DGIS also goes a step further, by being able to be integrated into other corporate systems (such as ERP, TMS or WMS) and automation platforms. One effect of this is to allow the processing, documentation and validation of dangerous goods shipments to be performed in the same workflow as non-regulated shipments. DGIS can also be used to keep a record of training, store master data for dangerous goods, and act as a library of other compliance-related information.
Labelmaster is not alone in having moved into the software world from related activities, having started out supplying labels, placards, documentation and other products for compliant dangerous goods shipments. The Bureau of Dangerous Goods, also US-based, started as a training firm but branched out into software with its ShipHazmat system. It can electronically create compliant bills of lading and shipper’s declarations for air, ground and ocean dangerous goods shipments.
Among other US-based software providers are Hazmat Software, ShipERP’s ShipHAZ system, a compliance application for SAP, and HazMat Trucking Enforcer (HTE), which offers Cloud-based compliance checks for the North America road haulage sector.
DGOffice.net www.dgm-sdg.com
Cargo Community Network www.ccnhub.com
Milbros cargo handling and cleaning information system https://corp.q88.com/milbros-chemicalcargo/ Veson Nautical https://veson.com/
Hazmat Software www.hazmatsoftware.com
