The UK Department for Transport (DfT) has announced it is set to ‘unleash the UK’s potential as a world leader in future technologies’ with proposals to support the development of autonomous ships and shipping. The UK government is proposing to amend the current legal framework to take powers in primary legislation to regulate all Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) regardless of size, including craft that would not traditionally be considered ships.
The benefits of this approach would be to:
Continue reading “UK aspirations to establish regulatory framework for autonomous shipping become clearer”
The potential catastrophic impact arising from the deterioration of abandoned cargo cannot be disregarded as a remote risk. However, the considerable costs accruing from container demurrage, detention, storage and disposal regularly result from cargo that, for a variety of reasons, is no longer required by the original receiver or consignee, and is simply abandoned at a port terminal or cargo facility. Increased risks of safety and regulatory infraction are inevitably consequent, as well as significant demand on management and operational resources to resolve individual cases. 
During an annual lifeboat safety inspection it was discovered that the on-load cable release could not easily be moved, and the release lever required extreme force to operate. The forward hook cable release also did not operate properly. A replacement cable release arrangement was procured locally, and repeated tests were conducted to confirm that it was once again fully operational.
As training onboard holds a positive and important role in the development and promotion of shipboard safety culture and to further bolster the Club’s hard and soft copy loss prevention publications, they are undertaking the production of a new loss prevention video series.
Container ship fires and explosions in port storage facilities continue to be the result of poorly packed dangerous goods and misdeclared hazardous materials as they move through the global supply chain. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) recently signed by two influential industry bodies, 
