1. Report on CINS Members Meeting: Hamburg, 27 August 2015

CINS organises regular Members Meetings, to permit Members to be actively involved in the development of the Organisation and to discuss their requirements.

The 3rd CINS Members Meeting of the year took place in Hamburg on Wednesday 27 August 2015, generously hosted by Hapag Lloyd at their Ballindamm Head Office. There were a total of 23 participants at the Meeting, with a wide range of presentations. Key points of the presentations are summarised below. PDFs of the presentations have already been distributed to Members; but for additional copies, please contact secretary@cinsnet.com.

  • Changes to the CINS Database System: Ken Rohlmann (Hapag Lloyd) and Capt Per Heintz (Hamburg Süd) gave a joint presentation regarding the upgrade that is being made to the CINS System. Subject to certain amendments and a trial period in September, the new system is scheduled to “go live” on 1 October.
  • CINS Statistics/Analytics: Uffe Ernst-Frederiksen gave a review of the CINS Statistics for the first half of 2015 on behalf of Peregrine Storrs-Fox (TT Club). Regularity of reporting remains an issue
  • COA Best Practice Guidelines: “Transport of Coiled Materials in Containers”: A final draft version of these Guidelines has now been prepared. The final version will be published before the end of October. This version will comprise a full 15-page Guidelines Document. And there will be a 2-page version (primarily showing the pictures), for easy/practical use on the terminal
  • CINS Best Practice Guidelines: “Carriage of Calcium Hypochlorite in Containers”: Participants at the Meeting agreed that CINS should now give priority to publishing a “CINS Guidelines on the carriage of Calcium Hypochlorite”. All members will be invited to supply information about their methods and experience with regard to shipping Calcium Hypochlorite. The IGP&I Clubs is additionally being invited to provide its knowledge and information.
  • Flexitanks: Update on the work being undertaken by the Container Owners Association: The CINS Secretary presented an update to participants about the work that the COA is doing with regard to Flexitanks. He explained the status of the COA Flexitank Code of Practice, and also the PAS 1008 project to enable certification of materials testing and flexitank manufacturing processes.
  • Mis-declaration of Dangerous Cargoes: Speaking on behalf of International Group of P&I Clubs, Tony Baker (Director, Loss Prevention, North of England P&I), gave a presentation regarding the problem of DG cargo mis-declaration. He confirmed that it is not a new problem and that serious incidents arise from carriage of (a) Declared dangerous goods; (b) Mis-declared dangerous goods (c) Un-declared dangerous goods. In particular from carriage of Calcium Hypochlorite. He raised a number of thoughts for consideration:

–          Will restrictions in carriage of declared dangerous goods increase the number of mis-declared incidents?

–          Are all our individual safeguards to detect mis-declared cargoes at the time of booking adequate?

–          Is best use being made of CINS to share information about mis-declarations?

–          Should we have specific (industry) best practice guidelines?

–          Should authorities be approached at ports involved?

–          Will increased ship size increase the risk?

  • Containers with Radioactive Materials: Uffe Ernst-Frederiksen (Head of Cargo Management and CINS Chairman), Maersk Line reported to Members about issues that his company had been dealing with, relating to containers which had been carrying radioactive materials and had left radioactive traces on the floors.