30 Years Ago

A LOOK BACK TO MARCH 1991

Sometimes, when reviewing a copy of HCB from three decades ago, it is easy to slip into the thought that nothing much has really changed. In March 1991, for example, HCB reported on changes to the IMDG Code, new special agreements under ADR, developments in deepsea and shortsea chemical tanker shipping – including the latest from Odfjell and Stolt Tankers – and drop tests for open-head drums.

But then, on page 3, there is a photo of a woman sat at a computer terminal, in what looks at first sight like a launderette but on closer inspection is a room full of mainframe computers with whirring wheels and racks of tapes. The fact that she appears to be wearing 80s clothing suggests it was an old photo even in 1991 but perhaps it was deemed sufficiently up to date to illustrate an article on the common failings in dangerous goods documentation and container packing certificates.

And on page 5, where editor Mike Corkhill had his regular chance to discuss the latest developments, we find another one of those major shifts in the industry that were happening in the early 1990s. In his Comment column, Mike discussed the emergence of the use of the ISO 9000 standard and safety audits by chemical shippers, saying: “Responsible transport operators have welcomed this greater recognition of both the quality assurance certification and a good safety audit result as yardsticks by which shippers choose their select band of carriers.”

The use of the word ‘responsible’ is apposite; the chemical industry and its logistics providers were in the process of beefing up their standards, prompted not least by the arrival of the Responsible Care initiative, initially in Canada in 1985 following the massive derailment in Mississauga in 1979. By 1991, work was going on in Europe to formalise the approach, through EPCA and Cefic, with Exxon Chemical having proposed a Ship Operational Standards Assessment System to fit in with the International Chemical Environment (ICE) emergency planning and response network.

Exxon’s ideas, matched by work with API and the Chemical Manufacturers Association in the US, envisaged an independent inspection agency with fully qualified and trained inspectors around the world, in order to vet the global chemical and gas tanker fleet – a job that would, it was thought, take about a year (good luck with that). That plan eventually emerged as the Chemical Distribution Institute, working in the marine and terminal sectors alongside the SQAS scheme for road and intermodal transport.

On the topic of chemical tankers, the March 1991 issue included a feature on the 12,600-dwt newbuilding Jo Aspen, delivered by Società Esercizio Cantieri in Italy to Jo Tankers, which was at the time the largest fully stainless steel vessel ever built. HCB pondered on the value of a fully stainless tanker, given the high cost compared to a coated ship, and felt that it was being specified more widely than was warranted purely from a technical point of view. On the other hand, the range of high-specification chemicals being carried by sea was growing rapidly at the time and the operational efficiencies and lower running costs offered by stainless steel tanks were becoming more valuable. Since then, the upper size limit for stainless steel tankers has been extended up to full MR class.