30 Years Ago

A LOOK BACK AT OCTOBER 1990

The October 1990 issue of HCB was something of a monster, weighing in at more than 100 pages. The reason? As ever, it was the EPCA special issue, in those days being distributed at the annual EPCA Logistics Meeting in Monte Carlo. Advertisers queued up to feature, as they still do today.

Among the editorial pages, though, there was talk about the recent amalgamation of the UN Group of Experts on Explosives and the Group of Rapporteurs into a single body, the UN Sub-committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, now just meeting for the third time. Had it been a good idea, or bad? In the end, it seemed to be something of a non-event.

However, readers may recognise some of the comments ‘HJK’ made in his report of the meeting, where he said: “Papers still make tardy appearances, some decisions are reached, while others are adjourned. The modal organisations … find themselves in the vexing situation of having to re-revise recently revised regulations.” Sound familiar?

But, as this was the last meeting before the December session of the parent Committee, some interesting changes were agreed, not least the revision of the Class 4 for self-reactive substances into three divisions, although the experts obviously overlooked the issue of polymerising substances.

In the US, though, the focus was on the imminent (1 January 1991) arrival of new rules on the use of UN-specification packaging. A report on COSTHA’s second annual forum, held at the Westin Hotel in Washington, DC, summarised discussions there, which revealed widespread concern about the issue. Larry Bierlein and Andy Altemos both were at pains to explain that there had been plenty of time for US industry to get used to the idea and that shippers in the US would have to fall into line if they were to be able to move their products in international trade.

Further input from the US came in the form of a report from ILTA’s tenth annual operating conference and trade show, which had attracted almost 2,000 attendees. Comments from Stolt-Nielsen’s James Stove Lorentzen formed the basis for HCB’s annual review of chemical tanker fleets, accompanied by a listing that featured many of the names still leading the business. As for bulk liquids storage, the sector was facing up to a “regulatory onslaught”, not least on the environmental front, but delegates to the event heard about the new ‘Responsible Care’ initiative from the US Chemical Manufacturers Association, which promised to help them meet the new requirements through a process of continuous improvement.

Matters were brought back home by yet another conference report, this time from the Pira Update Seminar, described as the “Cannes Film Festival of the dangerous goods world”. Again, discussions may sound familiar, covering such issues as the difficulty in achieving harmonisation across modes and territories, new marginals in ADR on vehicle stability and construction (following the Herborn road tanker incident in 1987), the proliferation of entries in the Dangerous Goods List, the relocation of provisions covering the transport of lithium batteries into Class 9 and dangerous goods in aircraft passenger baggage. The latter had been prompted in part, reported Kaye Warner, head of the CAA’s Dangerous Goods Section, after fireworks stowed in a passenger’s golf bag went off during a flight.