The Club, with the support of several Members, has launched Book it right and pack it tight - a set of four guidebooks on the workings of the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code. They are designed to provide busy operational people, who are not experts in the IMDG Code, with a quick reference and practical everyday guidance to the IMDG Code rules.
Book it Right & Pack it Tight
The guidebooks are intended to provide basic safety critical guidance for those engaged in all the stages of preparing dangerous goods for carriage by sea, from booking cargo to packing the cargo transport unit. The series includes the following four guides:
The guidebooks
Each set of the guidebooks is accompanied with a CD containing presentations that explain the contents of the guidebooks. These extensive presentations are designed to also be used by managers in the training of personnel in how the guidebooks should be used.
Click on the title or image below on each guidebook for more information
Guidebook No. 1 - Shippers & Forwarders Guidebook No. 1 is intended as a short guide for shippers preparing documentation and packages for consignments of dangerous goods to be shipped by sea. It covers the information that shipping lines will request from you as a shipper, and how to prepare the packages that leave your factory for packing by a third party.
Guidebook No. 2 - Shipping Line / Freight Sales Agency Guidebook No. 2 is intended to provide basic safety critical guidance for those engaged in all the stages of carriage of dangerous goods by sea, from preparing the packages, booking the cargo, raising the transport documentation, and most essentially, packing the shipping container.
Guidebook No. 3 - Cargo Consolidators / Cargo Transport Unit Packers Guidebook No. 3 is intended as a short guide to managers and supervisors of organisations that receive dangerous goods from shippers and pack them into shipping containers for carriage by sea. It briefly covers documentation, but concentrates on guidance for packing containers.
Guidebook No. 4 - Fork Lift Operators & Cargo Handlers Guidebook No. 4 highlights the safety critical rules that should be followed by those who get inside shipping containers to physically stack, load and secure dangerous goods. This guide sets out to explain the basic rules of the IMDG Code as simply as possible as a practical guide.
Click Hereto view the LP News supplement that outlines the provisions of the IMDG Code and gives general information on the causes of dangerous goods incidents. It also introduces the Book it right and pack it tight guidebooks which are essential reading for all parties involved in the consignment of packaged dangerous goods.
Click Here for information on the Club producing and launching the Dangerous Goods Guidebooks.
Every day thousands of cargo transport units carrying dangerous goods are carried on ships. Many of these consignments are potentially a major hazard unless the dangerous goods inside the cargo transport units have been properly identified to the shipping line, packed and secured to make them safe against the predictable stresses the load will endure during carriage by sea, particularly in bad weather. It is accepted that guidance and resources for training personnel in how to safely stow containers for sea is not readily available. This is particularly evident at in-shore loading facilities, far away from ports. That is why these Guidebooks have been produced.
If you think any fool can stuff a container... think again!
The series comes with a free copy of the UK Club DVD 'Any Fool Can Stuff A Container'. The Atlantic simulator featured in the video demonstrates the affect on a cargo container of the roll of a vessel at sea. The video identifies that a vessel also pitches, sways and yaws and that a cargo container may also experience these conditions above or below deck.
International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code
The International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code was developed as a uniform international code for the transport of dangerous goods by sea covering such matters as packing, container traffic and stowage, with particular reference to the segregation of incompatible substances.
It has been found that most incidents onboard ship involving dangerous goods packed in containers are caused because of incorrect segregation or no segregation at all of the dangerous goods. This in turn is often caused by the misdeclaration of goods. A big problem with the segregation of dangerous goods is that when done manually, the goods are often only segregated as per the segregation table in the Code. This is insufficient because that table does not take into account sub-risks or chemical families; the table would suggest that goods of the same class may be stowed adjacent to each other but this is not always the case.
Ordering your copies
UK Club Members may order copies through the Club. The Dangerous Goods Guidebooks and other Club publications are available to non-Club Members through Marisec Publications, providers of maritime publications for the shipping industry. Contact Mrs Shantel Ryan, email Shantel.Ryan@marisec.org.
Photo: (by Herry Lawford) Karl Lumbers and Colin Legget with Simon Bennett, Clare Hall, and Shantel Ryan of Marisec Publications
