TRANSPORT insurer TT Club has issued guidelines on packing and securing coiled materials in containers as part of its campaign to improve safe packing of unit loads, including shipping containers.
The insurer said that investigations into incidents along the international supply chain ?whether on roads, rail, inland waterway or at sea ?can often be attributed to poor practices in the packing of cargo transport units (CTUs) and coiled materials are a particular hazard.
TT Club said it has dealt with many incidents where improperly packed and secured steel coils in containers have shifted, breaking out, resulting in injuries or damage to property.
It pointed out that coils have even been known to break through the floor of a carrying unit and escaped into traffic. In short, improperly secured coil materials can have fatal consequences.
"Such experiences led us to collaborate with the CINS Organisation - a significant safety-based initiative set up by major container shipping lines," said TT Club's Peregrine Storrs-Fox.
The freely available revised guidelines, "Transport of Coiled Materials in Containers", focus attention on how a container packer can understand the risks involved through the supply chain in order to ensure that the coils are packed and secured successfully.
TT Club is planning a seminar, together with Global Shippers Forum, ICHCA and World Shipping Council, at the outset of the European Shipping Week in Brussels at the end of February, to give prominence internationally and within individual jurisdictions to the CTU Code.
