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IN THE KNOW COMPLIANCE • EXIS TECHNOLOGIES CONTINUES TO PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN ENSURING SAFETY IN THE MOVEMENT OF CONTAINERISED DANGEROUS GOODS AND SEES MORE WORK AHEAD WHEN THE ROOTS of containerisation began back in 1956, spearheaded by American entrepreneur Malcom McLean looking for a way to get his trucking company’s entire cargo loaded onto a shipping vessel as quickly and efficiently as possible, it would have been hard to expect that by 2022 container shipping would be transporting around 90 per cent of the world’s non-bulk cargo – of which some 10 per cent is recognised as dangerous goods. In 2022 Exis Technologies celebrates 35 years supplying IT solutions for the management of these dangerous goods in sea transport, helping shippers, consignors, forwarders and shipping lines to comply with the regulatory requirements. Early, paper-based, methods of shipping dangerous goods were time-consuming and relied on many people in the process understanding the cargo and its handling requirements. There could be catastrophic consequences to getting the answers wrong
to important questions like: Which goods are actually classified as dangerous goods? Can they be shipped together safely in a container? What packaging do they need? and Where should they be stowed in the ship? When Exis began in 1987, the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code, produced by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), existed only in book format and the widespread use of digital solutions was not prevalent in the shipping industry. After the first digital dangerous goods list database was developed by programmers at Exis, basic look-up tools for international multimodal regulations followed to speed up the booking process. By the 1990s Exis had its own digital solutions with the ability to find the correct UN numbers or proper shipping name, perform packaging and segregation/stowage checks and produce documentation that could be used in the transport chain. Exis continued
to innovate and by 2010 Hazcheck Validation Systems had been implemented by nine of the top 10 container lines. In parallel, Exis’ IMDG Code e-learning training tool was also launched in line with IMO’s new mandatory IMDG Code training guidelines. INTRODUCING DIGITAL Digital solutions produced by Exis have allowed businesses to keep pace with the advances in container shipping. When Exis was formed in 1987, the largest container ships, restricted in size by the Panama Canal, carried around 4,600 TEU, now ultra-large ships with capacity of almost 24,000 TEU can be regularly spotted at terminals. In 1980, 102m tonnes of cargo was being carried by container ships globally. By 2017, this figure had jumped to 1.8m million tonnes, an increase of nearly 1,700 per cent. Exis does not stand still, seeking out new collaborations and driving through initiatives to help with continued safety improvements in containerisation. In 2011 the Cargo Incident Notification System (CINS) was launched, a major industry collaboration involving five of the top container lines to analyse global operational information on all cargo- and container-related accidents. It now has 17 shipping line members, representing more than 85 per cent of the world’s container slot capacity. Exis, now a CINS advisory member, developed the CINSnet database that drives the CINS initiative. Exis also contributed to a new industryaccepted safety system for the stowage of dangerous goods on containerships, prepared by CINS and led by Maersk, following the fire on Maersk Honam. Exis Technologies was part of the working group and gave input focused around its detailed knowledge of the IMDG Code Dangerous Goods List, stowage requirements and categorising specific UN numbers into risk zones. Hazcheck Risk Zone data, comprising UN number, packing group and risk zones, is now available as a free resource to the container shipping industry. BREAKING AMERICA In 2018 Exis became part of New York-based container/vessel cargo surveying and inspection company National Cargo Bureau
HCB MONTHLY | JANURY 2022
