ABS and leaders representing the Cargo Incident Notification System (CINS) are teaming up to develop actionable recommendations to help mitigate risks posed from the stowage of dangerous goods on containerships, ABS says in a press release.
ABS has been working with CINS members over the past six months to develop best stowage strategy guidelines. Following a three-month trial, the best practice guidelines will be published on the CINS website. The collaboration assembles key industry stakeholders to examine the challenges and risks containership owners and operators face when stowing dangerous goods.
“Carriage of dangerous goods, not properly identified or accounted for, can be detrimental to the safety of the ship and more importantly the people on board that ship,” said ABS Vice President for Technology, Gareth Burton. “Central to our joint effort is advancing safety by developing a set of best practices incorporating key lessons learned provided by CINS members from past incidents.”
The objective of this project is the compilation of a comprehensive set of best practices to improve stowage planning and hazard mitigation for dangerous goods carriage, leading to a focused application of existing risk assessment processes.
“By working together with ABS and other leading international partners, we can share our experiences and help to improve the safety of stowing dangerous goods,” said Uffe Ernst-Frederiksen, CINS Chairman. “We are looking forward to channeling these experiences into the development of this new industry best practices document and welcome views, insights, and other risk-based approaches from various carriers that can help improve fire safety in our industry.”
For more than 50 years, ABS has been a trusted technical advisor for the containership sector. From the very first containership in operation to today’s most advanced ships, ABS is an industry leader. As a classification society, ABS has a strong track record for aiding the containership sector in identifying and leveraging new concepts to improve operations, protect the environment and enhance safety.
ABS, a leading global provider of classification and technical advisory services to the marine and offshore industries, is committed to setting standards for safety and excellence in design, construction and operation. Focused on safe and practical application of advanced technologies and digital solutions, ABS works with industry and clients to develop accurate and cost-effective compliance, optimized performance and operational efficiency for marine and offshore assets.
CINS is a shipping line initiative, launched in September 2011, developed to increase safety in the supply chain, reduce the number of cargo incidents on-board ships and highlight the risks caused by certain cargoes and/or packing failures. CINS membership includes Maersk Line, MSC, Hapag Lloyd, CMA CGM and Evergreen Line, all of whom are to participate in the joint project.