30 Years Ago

A LOOK BACK AT JANUARY 1989

Flicking back through the pages of HCB’s January 1989 issue provides a fine example of just how far industry has come in the past three decades. A major survey on drums for the transport of dangerous goods looked in particular at fibre drums – actually ‘fiber drums’, as the piece concentrated on the US market.

However, the writing was already on the wall – the US DOT’s now-famous HM-181 rulemaking proposed severe limitations on the products that would be authorised for transport in fibre drums, especially corrosive and/or flammable liquids. Larry Bierlein, then general counsel to the Fibre Drum Technical Council, provided a thorough examination of the DOT proposals and the action that the Council was to take to protect its market. As an indication of the level of success that was achieved, it is sobering to look at the list of manufacturers that accompanied the article and realise that only two of the 13 companies are still in business.

Packagings were also high on the agenda at the IMO’s Carriage of Dangerous Goods Sub-committee, which had just finalised Amendment 25 to the IMDG Code. Our report highlighted the range of substances that IMO deemed unsuitable for transport in the various types of IBC, provisions for the use of which had only recently arrived in the UN Orange Book. In those days, the IMDG Code followed its own journey and today’s Code is much better aligned with the Orange Book, but in 1989 shippers needed to be very careful when consigning all manner of goods in IBCs.

That amendment to the IMDG Code also included substantial revisions to the provisions for marine pollutants, to align with Annex III of Marpol, due to enter into force shortly. An article in the January 1989 issue by Hans Hermansson of Intertanko looked at the impact of the arrival of Annex II of Marpol, which applies to tankers carrying chemicals in bulk and which entered into force in April 1987. As expected, there had been a significant impact on the design, construction and equipment of chemical tankers but there had been some more unexpected impacts, in areas such as the wording of charterparties and the issue of waste treatment.

There was a sign of things to come with the launch of a standardised, computer-based dangerous goods checking and tracking system by the International Air Transport Association, SITA and Exis. The system promised to offer airlines, shippers and freight forwarders “both improved safety margins and considerable commercial benefits” by increasing the speed and accuracy in the transmission of crucial documentation. It is only now that IATA is getting to the point where electronic documentation is as commonplace for dangerous goods freight as it is for passengers and, as DGOffice reports elsewhere in this issue, there are still problems to be addressed in terms of the use of standardised forms and language.

There was plenty of interesting imagery in the January 1989 issue, most of it in black and white (colour printing still being comparatively expensive). But picture of the month was definitely a shot of Colum Boyle, chairman of CPV, handling over Stolt Tank Containers’ 2,000th tank to the then president of STC, Reg Lee, now president of ITCO. Thirty years on, only the hairstyle and the cut of the suit are different.