ANOTHER CAR CARRIER IN DIFFICULTY AND IMO SLOWLY ACTS

Single use items like plastic cutlery, plates and polystyrene trays will be banned in England, the Government have confirmed.

It is not clear when the ban will come into effect but England follows prior regulation in Scotland and Wales.

Government figures suggest 1.1 billion single use plates and more than 4 billion pieces of plastic cutlery are used in England every year.

Whilst this ban is long overdue the Government has been slow to act and needs to go much further to stem the increasing tide of plastic use.

Greenpeace UK described this as:’ We are dealing with a plastic flood, this is like reaching for a mop instead of turning off the tap.’

The Government does need to focus on a meaningful strategy to reduce plastic use, which should issue stringent targets for its reduction, reuse and refill schemes and the introduction of deposit return schemes. The government has no plastic strategy for England and is making only slow steps to introduces extended producer responsibility with the first stage of this started on 1 Jan 2022.

More details from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ business-64205460

A Panama-flagged vehicle carrier carrying more than 4,500 cars and 1,300 tons of oil from South Korea to Singapore caught fire and is now drifting in the waters off Vung Tau, Vietnam.

The fire is believed to have started on Friday, February 3, on board the AH SHIN before spreading across multiple decks of 21,000-ton vessel.

There were 21 Russian crew members on board and all of them are reported safe.

The fire was reported under control by Sunday night, but the vessel was still emitting a strong burning smell.

The amount of damage to cars on board is unclear.

The MV AH SHIN is a vehicle carrier built in 1999 and measures 200 meters long and 32 meters wide. It is managed by DORIKO Ltd of South Korea.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. This seems a similar case to the MV FELICITY ACE that eventually burned completely out and then capsized close to the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean in late 2022.

The US Coast Guard issued guidance in March 2022 (Safety Alert 01-22) to highlight where improperly discarded Lithium-Ion batteries caught fire in a container while en route to the Port of Virginia, where it was set to be loaded onto a ship. The container’s bill of lading listed the contents as “computer parts,” not lithium batteries.

The carriage of electric vehicles containing Lithium-Ion batteries presents new challenges to maritime transportationand firefighting.

In this latest safety alert, the Coast Guard strongly recommends that vessels, ports, shippers, and regulators:

Conduct a comprehensive review of the vehicle shipping requirements found in both the Hazardous Materials Regulations (49 CFR) and the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code. All lithium batteries are hazardous materials regulated by the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). As such, they are required to comply with the Lithium Battery Guide for Shippers.

Conduct review of additional requirements for shipping damaged lithium ion batteries located in the PHMSA Safety Advisory Notice for the Disposal and Recycling of Lithium Batteries in Commercial Transportation. Due to the large size of EV batteries, the packaging requirements to comply with damaged shipment regulations are inadequate. As such, IMDG special provision 376 specifically requires approval from the competent authority (PHMSA or US Coast Guard) prior to shipment of damaged lithium batteries.

Remain vigilant and ensure damaged lithium-ion vehicle batteries are not loaded onto vessels for shipment, placed within port facilities, or enclosed in containers.

This all sound easier said than done. We have noted previously the pressure of ports to process containers for loading means that shipper declarations on bills of lading are taken as fact. Checks on individual containers are rarely done unless there is some suspicion on the documentation.

The IMO Sub-Committee on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers (CCC 8), 8th session, on 14-23 September, 2022 discussed a proposal to replace IMDG Code special provisions (SP) 961 and 962 with a new special provision in response to recent fire incidents occurring on vehicle carriers. In light of continued reports of serious incidents caused by fires originating from vehicles, and as a matter of priority, the Sub-Committee established a Correspondence Group on the Review of Transport Provisions for Vehicles to: continue consideration of amendments to transport provisions for vehicles; develop and prepare suitable measures to address the hazards arising from shipments of vehicles in the provisions of the IMDG Code; and submit a report to CCC 9.

MANDATORY REPORTING OF LOST CONTAINERS – DRAFT SOLAS AND MARPOL REQUIREMENTS

Agreed But Not To Come Into Effect Until 1 January 2026

The ONE Apus was underway from China to Long Beach, California when it lost an estimated 1,816 containers overboard in heavy weather approximately 1,600 nautical miles northwest of Hawaii on November 30 2020

The IMO Sub-Committee on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers (CCC 8), 8th session, on 14-23 September, 2022 agreed draft new requirements for mandatory reporting of lost freight containers at sea.

Containers lost overboard can be a serious hazard to navigation and safety at sea in general, in particular to recreational sailing vessels, fishing vessels and other small craft, as well as to the marine environment. The work of the Sub-Committee on detection and reporting of lost containers is also relevant to the Organization’s work on addressing marine litter.

The Sub-Committee agreed draft amendments to the SOLAS and MARPOL treaties.

The draft amendments to SOLAS chapter V, on safety of navigation, will be submitted to the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), with a view to approval by MSC 107 (spring 2023) and subsequent adoption by MSC 108 (autumn 2023). The draft amendments add new paragraphs to SOLAS chapter V Regulation 31 on Danger messages. They would require the master of every ship involved in the loss of freight container(s), shall communicate the particulars of such an incident by appropriate means without delay and to the fullest extent possible to ships in the vicinity, to the nearest coastal State, and also to the flag State. The flag State would be required to report the loss of freight containers to IMO.

More details at: https://www.imo.org/en/ MediaCentre/MeetingSummaries/ Pages/CCC-Default.aspx