The World Shipping Council (WSC), the association that represents the world's leading container shipping companies, has urged governments to address a gap in the rules on the transport of dangerous goods, which allows the Transporting containers containing thousands of lithium batteries without maritime carriers and other transport operators are informed of the risk. Recalling that the special provision 188 of the IMDG Code (International Maritime Dangerous Goods) exempts small batteries from some requirements, provided that meet specific test, packaging and capacity criteria, The association pointed out that the rule, however, does not set any limit on the number of exempt batteries that can be grouped in a single container. A container containing approximately 4,200 computers - the WSC underlined - could therefore contain an accumulated energy of about 416 kWh, equivalent to that of three or four electric vehicles, without requiring documentation for dangerous goods or the affixing of identification signs on the containers.

"Currently," explained the president and CEO of the World Shipping Council, Joe Kramek - a container can be filled with thousands of lithium batteries and travel without being declared as a load of dangerous goods. Exemption SP188 was was introduced to simplify the transport of individual devices equipped with small batteries, not to make invisible entire loads of containers". "We know - he added - What can happen when hazards are not visible: exempt batteries have caused serious container fires, putting people, ports, ships and the marine environment".

He also highlighted that the risk is growing as it is the rapidly increasing transport of batteries and that the fires of the cargo are a constant danger at sea, the WSC recalled how the International Energy Agency has announced that in 2025 the global use of lithium-ion batteries has been six times higher than in 2020, with demand expected to double by 2030 and underlined how the most important statistics recent statements from the insurance company Allianz indicate that Verify a fire on a container ship every 17 days.

The transport of batteries - the WSC noted - takes place in whenever these are correctly declared and the risks are managed appropriately while the problem arises when carriers, crews, ports and emergency teams are not at knowledge of the presence of the danger. In the absence of such information, carriers cannot correctly assess the risk, choose the most suitable load arrangement, separate the container from other goods or arrange a response to the emergency based on reliable data.

The WSC announced that it had received support from five governments and a broad coalition of industry organisations to the submission of a document for examination by the International Maritime Organization which proposes the definition of a possible maximum threshold of batteries contained in a single container, after which these shipments should be declared and possibly marked with appropriate danger signs. The question will be examined by the Sub-Committee on Carriage of IMO Cargoes and Containers at its meeting in London from 14 to 18 September.