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Cargo peril on the sea

22nd December 2011
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Page 11, 22nd December 2011 — Cargo peril on the sea
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Maritime law enforcers warn that hauliers are not following rules covering the movement of freight by sea and are putting lives at risk

Words: Chris Tindall

THOUSANDS OF HGVs are arriving at one of the UK’s largest ports without declaring that their loads are classed as dangerous, according to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).

The government agency responsible for implementing British and international maritime law also claims that there is apparent ignorance among many hauliers and drivers of the rules governing the transport of dangerous goods by sea.

A CM investigation into the movement of goods classed as hazardous and dangerous on freight and passenger ferries follows the recent prosecution by the MCA of Tinnelly International Transport and one of its drivers (CM 8 December). The company, which no longer trades, was found guilty of failing to declare a cargo of aluminium skulls – a byproduct of smelting – which could have exploded if it had come into contact with water, with the potential loss of 500 lives.

Hefty fines

Tinnelly was ined £10,000 with £6,000 costs, which director Kevin Tinnelly has been ordered to pay. Driver John James McGivern pleaded guilty to failing to declare a cargo of dangerous goods and was ined £3,000 with a contribution towards costs of £1,000. MCA nautical surveyor Captain Eric Meare, who works at Dover port, says most of the people the agency prosecutes are drivers because they fail to declare what they are carrying.

“Ignorance is part of the problem,” he says. “Most are familiar with ADR and probably most of the trucks do comply with ADR. But while that truck is on board a ship the IMDG [International Maritime Dangerous Goods] code is the one they have to comply with, not ADR. We have had freight managers call me up when we’ve prohibited their vehicle and say ‘what do you mean?’ They are gobsmacked.” However, Meare says non-declarations sometimes come about for reasons other than criminality or ignorance. “They think that by not declaring it they will get onto the irst available ferry,” he says. “Sometimes drivers say ‘I am not allowed out of my truck when loading a vehicle, so I don’t know what’s being loaded’. We have heard this quite a few times, but as I understand it the driver is responsible for loading his vehicle.

“We have also had cases where the company has done all the correct paperwork and given it to the freight forwarder and they haven’t given it to the driver, or they have given a brown envelope to the driver and he hasn’t looked at it. We’ve also had cases where the envelope is stapled closed and the driver is told he isn’t allowed to open it.

“He should have refused the load; how does he know it’s not a load of cocaine, for example?” Meare believes large numbers of HGVs are regularly passing through Dover port without being correctly placarded. “The Road Haulage Association [RHA] says that at any given time approximately 10% of all CVs on the roads are carrying dangerous goods. On every ferry crossing we should therefore have around 10 [lorries] carrying dangerous goods, but instead we get two or three, sometimes four.” He adds: “We get 57,000 trucks at Dover a day. To go and inspect every single one of those guys would stop the country.”

Is it dangerous or not?

The RHA questions these igures and says there is a reason many hauliers don’t bother placarding their vehicles. “They know the ferry company will do it,” explains Nick Deal, RHA logistics development manager.

“When you are a general haulier and you have been given something that doesn’t immediately strike you as being dangerous, then if you are not a dangerous goods carrying haulier sometimes it is hard to tell.” Deal also points out that while it might be true that up to 10% of all goods vehicles are probably carrying dangerous goods, it doesn’t necessarily follow that all this freight would come under ADR regulations. “For example, a car is classed as ‘dangerous’ because of its combustion engine,” he explains.

Peter Cullum, head of international affairs at the RHA, says it is also true that some drivers are instructed not to leave their cabs when their vehicle is being loaded, “because there is a need for security”.

He says: “In certain cases drivers are not encouraged to get out. Also because of injuries the individual company concerned is liable.

“There is an assumption that drivers inspect their goods. They very often don’t; they get handed paperwork. An awful lot depends on the shipper’s consignment notes.” Cullum also argues that focus on the safety risks for hauliers and other road users should be on transport through tunnels rather than on ferries, because of the comparable rarity of maritime incidents.

However, Meare refers to a ire last

year on the passenger ferry Lisco Gloria in the Baltic sea, which was also carrying HGVs, and says: “Luckily there was no loss of life, but 150 trucks were destroyed, as well as the ship. How many of those do they want?”

Trust is key

He adds: “Every day this is all done on the basis of trust. You trust the manufacturer when he’s made the goods to declare them as dangerous. You then trust the people shipping it to produce the correct documentation and then you trust the road haulier to carry out the correct procedures and stow it in the correct manner and for the driver to understand the rules and regulations.

“You then trust the driver to make those declarations and not hide anything. And then you trust the captain of the ship to stow the vehicle in the correct manner. It only needs one person in the chain to break it and no one knows what’s happening any more.” Meare concludes: “Drivers must declare the dangerous goods that they are carrying. It’s not just that the law requires it; it’s for the safety of the people on the ship.

“Even if you think it’s innocuous, there are all sorts of other things [being stowed] and the combination can be quite dangerous. By circumventing that, people’s lives are at risk.” ■


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