London Club stresses need to observe passage planning and weather information

The London P&I Club says it has seen a rise over the past twelve months in the number of deficiencies relating to Temporary and Preliminary (T&P) notices to mariners, and an increase in negative findings in relation to the management of radio navigation and meteorological warnings.

In the latest issue of its StopLoss Bulletin, the club says its Ship Inspection Programme has identified failure to manage T&P notices, or to apply them to the ship’s chart folio, as a commonly recorded occurrence. It says, “If T&P notices are not consistently applied to the chart folio, the ship’s navigating officer and officers of the watch may be deprived of valuable passage planning information. T&P notices contain a vast array of information which may influence the planning or conduct of a passage. Efficient passage planning requires the assimilation of good-quality information which ought to leave the mariner better equipped to decide how to conduct the passage of a ship.”

The club also points to a failure to properly observe navigation/meteorological warnings and/or systems by which information is collected, applied and displayed for watchkeeping officers to monitor. It says a lack of observation of the meteorological information provided by the Navtex system on the bridge of a ship entered with the club recently contributed greatly to a significant oil spill claim.

The Navtex equipment on the bridge of the ship, which was anchored at the time of the incident, was fully operational and properly set. Unfortunately, there was no established system by which the information – whether navigational or meteorological - was read, considered and applied on the bridge. Heavy weather was forecast by various means, including Navtex, but was quite unexpected at that time of year. By the time the poor weather struck, it caught the bridge team by surprise in the early hours of the morning. In the time that it took to get the main engine on-line, the ship had dragged its anchor approximately one nautical mile onto a rocky shoreline, puncturing its bunker tanks. The resultant spill clean-up and associated claims amounted to more than $44m.

The club concludes, “Officers should be reminded of the full extent of the chart and publication folio to which corrections apply, and of the risks of ignoring sources of navigational and meteorological information.”

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London Club issues warning on inflated claims and legal delays

THE London P&I Club has warned that shipowners face a significant increase in exposure to claims and fines levied against them in jurisdictions which suffer from a combination of high interest rates and a reputation for protracted legal proceedings.

In the latest issue of its StopLoss Bulletin, the club notes, “Brazil provides a good example of such a jurisdiction. The prevailing interest rate is in the region of 12 per cent per annum, in addition to which the courts apply a further variable uplift to take into account the effects of inflation, which can be as much as 6 per cent.

“In practice, this means that a club member’s exposure to a claim or fine can increase by almost 20 per cent for each year that the matter is pending. Bearing in mind that it is not unusual for a claim to take five years from start to finish, this can result in a member’s ultimate exposure potentially doubling.”

The club warns that there are times when the effect may be even more severe. It cites one instance where a cargo claim, initially presented for an amount in the region of $1m, ultimately resulted in an adverse judgment of just under $4m, after protracted litigation.

The club concludes, “Careful consideration should be given to any opportunity to settle at a reasonable level at an early stage.”

Also in StopLoss, the club highlights an emerging trend in Brazil for crew members to be required to obtain visas for up to 30 days for entering Brazilian waters. The club understands that such visas are only required for tourists and are in fact completely unnecessary for members of a ship’s crew. Nevertheless, there have been instances where unexpected delays to ships have meant that the crew have remained within Brazilian territorial waters after their visas have expired, resulting in fines being levied upon ship operators for a breach of immigration regulations.

P&I correspondents in Brazil say such fines have no legitimate basis and recommend that they be challenged. The club has urged its members to contact it for further advice if faced with demands for payment of such fines.

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London Club says owners must not accept exemptions from IMSBC code for DRI cargoes

THE London P&I Club has urged shipowners to be alert to any attempt by shippers and other cargo interests to claim exemptions from the International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes (IMSBC) Code in connection with the carriage of DRI (Direct Reduced Iron) cargoes.

Long-standing concerns about the carriage of DRI - involving the possibility of a chemical reaction between the cargo and water, leading to the risk of fire and explosion - prompted the introduction of specific provisions for the carriage of DRI in the IMSBC Code. Under these provisions, DRI cargoes should have a maximum moisture content of 0.3 per cent and be carried under an inert gas blanket, and ships carrying DRI should be capable of maintaining oxygen levels of below 5 per cent throughout the voyage. Attempts to allow certain grades of DRI – principally those shipped from Venezuela and Trinidad – to be carried with significantly higher moisture contents and/or without the need to deploy inert gas, have been rejected by IMO.

The London Club says that, despite this, it is aware that attempts have been made by a Trinidadian company to ship HBI Fines (now known as DRI C) without complying with the mandatory requirements of the IMSBC Code. The Trinidadian shipper apparently relied on a provision in Section 1.5 of the code, which contemplates the possibility of alternative carriage arrangements by stipulating, “Where this code requires that a particular provision for the transport of solid bulk cargoes shall be complied with, a competent authority or competent authorities (port state of departure, port state of arrival or flag state) may authorise any other provision by exemption if satisfied that such provision is at least as effective and safe as that required by this code.”

The Trinidadian shipper offered an exemption certificate from the competent authority in Trinidad for the carriage of DRI C with a moisture content above 0.3 per cent and suggested that the cargo could be carried safely if the holds were mechanically ventilated to prevent the build-up of hydrogen. But Ian Barr, a Claims Director with A Bilbrough & Co, the London Club’s management team, says the club doubts whether mechanical ventilation can ever be regarded as being ‘at least as effective and safe’ as the use of an inert gas blanket.

Writing in the latest issue of the club’s StopLoss Bulletin, Barr says, “As most bulk carriers likely to carry DRI will have only ‘natural’ ventilation, hold fans would have to be fitted at the load port. The club has seen documents suggesting that, on at least one occasion, the fans proposed were not certified ‘explosion-proof’, meaning that they had not been specifically designed for use in flammable atmospheres and could be a possible source of ignition. Also, the fans appeared to be too small and were badly sited, limiting their ability to prevent the accumulation inside the hatch coaming of any hydrogen given off by the cargo.”

The club has advised its members that any suggestion that an exemption from the requirements of the IMSBC Code will be invoked should be reported to it immediately.

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London P&I Club issues warning on fire-fighting preparedness

THE London P&I Club says the response to two recent onboard cargo fires has highlighted the value of both fire-fighting training and realistic shipboard drills for ships’ crews.

In the latest issue of its StopLoss Bulletin, the club refers to a case where smoke was seen by the crew of a containership to be escaping from a container stuffed with bone meal in bulk.

The crew quickly established the best means of fighting a fire involving that commodity and then executed a well-drilled plan to extinguish the fire by flooding the container using a fire-fighting lance connected to a fire hose. The lance was introduced into the box through a hole which the crew punctured in the roof of the container.

The same technique was deployed when the bone meal inside a second container also started to self-heat.

By contrast, another crew’s response to a fire in cotton bales loaded in a tweendecker was significantly less effective.

While the master’s decision to deploy the CO2 fixed fire-fighting system was fully compliant with the IMDG Code recommendations, the crew’s failure to ensure that the cargo space was sealed before releasing the gas rendered the CO2 wholly ineffective.

The master subsequently sent the fire team into the cargo spaces to fight the fire with hoses. Unfortunately, one of the fire team apparently became disoriented in the thick smoke, suggesting that he had not received adequate training in fire-fighting techniques. He fell from the tweendeck level to the tank top, sustaining severe injuries.

The club notes, “Whereas the operators of the containership had a well-developed training programme, which included realistic drills on a range of different fire types and locations, there was no such prudent practice in place on the other ship.

"Owners must be aware of their obligations to conduct regular and realistic onboard emergency drills to the requirements of the flag state, SOLAS Convention and as provided for under the ISM Code Section 8 Emergency Preparedness”.

Elsewhere in StopLoss, the club looks at problems resulting from the carriage of nickel ore cargoes, measures for safe mooring, and new rules for ship-to-ship operations.


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