By Costas Paris Nov. 24, 2019 8:00 am ET A large share of the dangerous-goods shipments on international cargo ships were mislabeled, improperly handled and carried other safety risks, according to an industry study undertaken after a spate of fires on big, ocean-going vessels.
“The figures on how much improperly stowed or misdeclared cargo was in the boxes were shocking,” NCB President Ian Lennard said. The study, undertaken at Maersk’s request, deemed 274 containers, or 55% of those examined, to be potential fire hazards. Checks on boxes with dangerous goods coming into the U.S. showed 69% were either not properly secured, warning signs on the boxes were missing or had fallen off, or the cargo was simply wrongly identified in shipping documents. The failure rate for containers that were declared moving nondangerous cargo to the U.S. was 51%.
Cargo that could potentially ignite include charcoal, fertilizer, fish food, chlorine products and other chemicals, car batteries and electronic components. In addition, cargo that isn’t properly secured can shift at sea, creating heat from friction that can cause a fire.
Let the insurance companies handle this, don't get the government involved.