With container loss at sea remaining a significant challenge for the shipping industry, international freight insurer TT Club is actively collaborating with the container sector to reduce such losses.
As a key aspect of preventing containers from being lost overboard is understanding the causes behind stack collapses and other related incidents, TT commended the World Shipping Council for its annual survey on container losses, which showed a notable decrease in recorded losses for 2023. Importantly, approximately 33% of the containers initially lost were eventually recovered.
However, TT’s own research underscores the pivotal role of weather as the most influential factor in the losses. Also, according to the data, preventing container losses involves a complex interplay of various operational elements.
“In this context, TT has been involved from conception with the MARIN TopTier Joint Industry Project,” TT risk management director Peregrine Storrs-Fox (pictured) highlighted. “This ongoing project has drawn together over 40 industry and governmental stakeholders in identifying and resolving the circumstances that lead to such incidents.
“It has already delivered important guidance relating to mitigating parametric roll risks, and the Club will continue to be involved in the debates, particularly at the IMO (International Maritime Organisation), following the finalisation of the research.”
While much of the focus is on ship operations, TT emphasised that every participant in the freight supply chain has a role to play. Ensuring the accuracy of the verified gross mass at the point of transport order, as well as proper load distribution and secure packing of cargo into containers, is crucial. As such, TT’s cargo integrity campaign remains a cornerstone of its efforts, alongside partners in the Cargo Integrity Group.
At the ship-port interface, terminal operating systems must support correct stowage on board the ship, using stow planning software to place heavier containers lower in the deck stack. Storrs-Fox noted: “TopTier studies have identified discrepancies up to 20% between planned stow versus the actual final stow on board. If representative of all operations, this is itself alarming.”
TT’s analyses also pointed to environmental factors common to several incidents. While wave height is an obvious concern, wave length and period are considered even more critical. Wave period, in particular, can lead to resonant phenomena like parametric roll and synchronous rolling, which contribute to stow collapses and container losses.
Additionally, in its pursuit of technological advancements for safety, TT recognised two innovative solutions developed by Trendsetter Vulcan Offshore. These digital and engineering systems, adapted from the offshore industry, aim to enhance monitoring capabilities for predicting and detecting parametric roll, and re-engineer lashing systems to reduce container motion and stabilise container stacks.
“Ships will never be able to avoid the impact of heavy seas entirely,” added Storrs-Fox, following re-routings away from the Red Sea that have exposed voyages to extreme weather off southern Africa. “Consequently TT, in furtherance of its mission to make the global logistics industry safer, more secure, and more sustainable, continues with its efforts on this issue and urges industry colleagues to do likewise.”
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