Intercargo throws again the alarm for the danger course rinfusiere that they transport cargos that can be liquified



The International Association of Dry Cargo Shipowners (Intercargo) has thrown again the alarm for the danger course rinfusiere that they transport bulk sand banks that can be subject to liquefaction. The association has evidenced that the recent turnover and sinking of the rinfusiera Jupiter Bulk, that had loaded bauxite to Kuantan, in Malaysia, and that is shipwrecked at the beginning of this month to wide of Vietnam causing the loss of 18 of the 19 members of the crew, can be an incident that falls back in along directory of the portarinfuse gone down because of the liquefaction of the cargo.

Intercargo has announced of being informed that, as a result of the incident of the Jupiter Bulk, almost all the shipowners have suspended the bauxite cargo boarding to Kuantan because of tests that they indicate that the conditions in which the cargo is anticipated they are potentially dangerous for its transport. It has moreover specified to have learned that one of these cargos has arrived to the port of destination in a liquefaction condition.

The association of the shipowners that operate ships to rinfusiere has emphasized that only a fast and deepened investigation on this tragic incident will be able to establish the causes that have determined the sinking and that assessing the causes of the marine incidents it can only be contributed to guarantee safety of the crews and the ships.

Intercargo has remembered to have repeatedly sped up an extreme attention and vigilance if of cargo transport that potentially can be subject to liquefaction and to have obtained, through the International Maritime Organization (IMO), more groundbreaking tests and verifications on the conditions of fine mineral and iron mineral cargo transport of nickel. The bauxite - it has found the association - seems to be another type of cargo that demands the greater vigilance, necessary in order to validate and to guarantee sure conditions of transport.

"This that - the general secretary of Intercargo has observatory, David Tongue - comes normally considered as a cargo of group C (than, second the subdivision proposed from code IMSBC - International Maritime Solid Cargoes Bulk Tails, is those cargos that - with the exception of those of group To - they do not anticipate liquefaction risk neither - with the exception of those of group B - they constitute potential source of danger on board, ndr) can potentially behave as a cargo of group To when the characteristic detailed lists of that cargo they are not maintained, in particular when are you anticipate more loaded with levels elevated than advanced fineness and humidities to those indicated in code IMSBC. Code IMSBC - Tongue has remembered - asserts that "many fine powder cargos, if in possession of a humidity rate sufficiently elevated, can behave as a fluid. Therefore for every cargo humid or bathed containing a percentage of fine particles they must be verified the fluidity characteristics before it is loaded". The States of landing place - Tongue has remembered - have the obligation to assure that the conditions of the cargos that allow that they are boarded in their ports are in condition for being transported in safety. Not there is doubt that if such obligation came rigorously respected by all the States of landing place through a coherent performance by the competent authorities, the risk for the marine bulk transport sand banks would come remarkablly attenuated".

Intercargo has emphasized that the shipowners, the operators and the charters would have lend the maximum attention when they have something to do with any type of cargo that potentially can behave as a fluid and has rimarcato that in any case the precaution is the better approach. Therefore, second the association, if sussistono doubts on the cargo type it is absolutely necessary to resort to independent tests in order to verify the real condition of the cargo before its boarding.