Shipping transports around 90% of world trade onboard different vessels including container and Ro-Ro ships with trade routes getting busier.
In a new initiative, leading carriers Evergreen Line of Taiwan, South Korea's HMM, Denmark's Maersk, Germany's Offen Group, Singapore's ONE , Hong Kong's Seaspan as well as British ship certifier Lloyd's Register said they are looking into feasibility studies to understand how cargo is loaded and also monitored at sea, as well as finding solutions to detect fire onboard ships and speed up ways to stop it spreading.
"The priority for the first challenge area is to provide earliest indication of a fire incident, thus allowing the appropriate onboard responses to prevent the occurrence of large fires and loss," Rich McLoughlin, programme director for the cargo fire and loss innovation initiative, told Reuters. "The initiative seeks to provide proof-points that emerging tech may be used to improve response times over the existing regulatory requirements, leading to enhanced vessel safety."