The carriage of hazardous goods is a necessary requirement of manufacturing industries across Europe. UK and Irish industry is reliant on ferry operators carrying these goods as part of manufacturing supply chains. Hazardous goods are usually carried 
as part loads or groupage, but some carriers do specialise in full load movements.
There appears to be a lack of understanding by a number of transport operators of the legal requirements for the movement of hazardous goods by sea. What makes this so frustrating is the fact that as we live on an island, so how do people expect to get here if not by sea? Eurotunnel cannot take all the various types of hazardous cargo there are, and not every operator uses this service. There are also no tunnel or road connections from the UK to Ireland.
There are different legal requirements for the transportation of hazardous goods by road to those by sea. For example, a truck operator has to run with “orange plates” – the square plates displayed at the front and rear of a vehicle, when a truck is loaded with hazardous goods and operating by road in the UK. However, when the same vehicle wants to travel on a ferry, arrangements need to be made by the ferry operator to stow the vehicle in a particular location on board the ship (depending on the nature of the hazard of the goods on board the vehicle), and dangerous goods placards (haz triangles for those of a particular age) must be affixed to the bulkhead and each side of the trailer (or lorry), the load needs to have been checked by a DGSA (Dangerous Goods Safety Advisor) of the relevant ferry company to ensure the goods can be carried (as not all dangerous goods can be carried on ferries). Oh, and when you arrive at the ferry port if the ADR (Dangerous Goods) paperwork is not correctly completed and signed then you aren’t going anywhere anyway! All of this work is undertaken to ensure that in the event of an incident, such as a fire on board ship (which is probably the most dangerous thing that can occur onboard ship, particularly if the ship is at sea), then the ships crew and emergency teams know exactly what potential hazards they have onboard.
A product that can be carried as “limited quantities” by road, and not require ADR paperwork or “orange plates”, could be classed as hazardous by sea. This is where the help of the DGSA or dispatch department of the consignor company can assist the transport operator to fully understand their legal obligations, and thus help to ensure compliance. Freightlink can also offer help and advice to customers by discussing the product types and quantities to be shipped with ferry operators to check the goods can be accepted for shipment. No operator wants to be sat on the quayside with a load that can’t be shipped and start incurring delays: if the wheels aren’t turning, the vehicle isn’t earning!
Whilst in this country we often bemoan the amount of “red tape” encompassing UK industry in support of health and safety legislation, no one wants to star in their own disaster movie! In the UK we have a government department called the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), who police and support our shipping industry and ensure compliance with maritime law. The MCA recently held a seminar in the North West of England for the shipping, transport and logistics industries to discuss, amongst other things, the issue of hazardous cargo shipments in UK territorial waters. Freightlink attended this seminar and heard from various MCA, Police and Environment Agency representatives about the damage that can be done to ships, road infrastructure and peoples lives if the carriage of hazardous goods is not undertaken correctly and goes wrong. We left the seminar with one story that will prove that if you get the carriage of dangerous goods wrong, you will need very deep pockets…….
On the 20th November 2008, at Dunkirk, Janusz Gauden, a 56 year old Polish lorry driver arrived and attempted to board a British ferry bound for Dover. He declared that he had 383Kg of dangerous goods (Methyl Methacrylate Monomer Stabilized) on his load but the ferry operator identified that the driver did not have the correct documentation and refused permission to board.
Mr. Gauden then went to Calais where he managed to board a Sea France ferry carrying 228 persons without declaring the goods. The Dunkirk ferry operator had sent an alert to Sea France to be on the look out for the driver but this information arrived after the vessel sailed with the undeclared dangerous goods on board.
The ferry operators informed the Maritime & Coastguard Agency enforcement unit who immediately alerted the Police at Dover Port. The driver was stopped and arrested as the vehicle disembarked from the ferry at Dover. He was later charged with contravening the Merchant Shipping (Dangerous Goods and Marine Pollutants) Regulations 1997 and was bailed to appear at Folkestone Magistrates Court.
On the 27th January 2009, at Folkestone Magistrates Court Janusz Gauden pleaded guilty to the above offences and was fined £2000 and order to pay £3757.98 costs.
In passing sentence the Magistrates said; “This Court takes the safety of the public very seriously. You are an experienced driver and did a deliberate act. You endangered the crew and everyone on board and the potential for disaster was driven by monetary reasons”.
I hope that none of the readers of this blog ever have a visit from the MCA or the Police to explain their companies’ actions in relation to the carriage of hazardous goods by sea.
Tags: cargo ferry, Ferry, freight ferry, hazardous cargo
As a ferry industry professional, but speaking personally from experience, I very much agree with the comprehensive and accurate view of this topic in your blog. I would however add a few points which may be worthy of thought and discussion.
Ferry operators are compelled, both legally and ethically, to operate to the letter of the IMDG Code in the carriage of dangerous goods. There is however in the freight market regular misunderstanding by customers of the requirements of the code in terms of e.g. labelling. While ferry operators do the utmost to address this and help the customer, it is in some cases seen as a negative by customers if, for example, a unit is not shipped as booked because of a deficiency in either labelling or paperwork, or because the goods carried have restrictions in terms of stowage.
By necessity of operation and schedule, vessels operate to tight in-port schedules and as such problems may also occur if a unit is presented late for shipping when a ship is partly loaded and the required stowage space has already been filled by cargo which was already there for loading. Ferry operators therefore specify cut-off times for hazardous shipments in order to ensure the planned stowage can be accomplished.
In cases where there may be an unneveness in the standards of vigilance applied by ferry operators, those who “do the right thing” are often penalised by losing a load to a competing operator. There is naturally a commercial down side to this especially in current market conditions, however a moral obligation and legal requirement exists to do things correctly, and this should be appreciated by customers in organising what they do.
I would also add that a recurring problem is the non-removal of labelling by freight operators when a hazardous load has been tipped and a unit returns to port either empty or laden with a non – hazardous backload. This may cause difficulties in terms of load allocation, cargo determination, or in a worst case scenario with an incident at sea, those dealing with it on board really have to act in terms of what they see. If a hazardous labelled unit is involved in e.g. a fire scenario, this will influence actions taken in dealing with the incident. There is therefore a clear responsibility to have all labels removed where a unit is NOT carrying dangerous goods.
Regulations aside, ferry companies try to serve customers to the highest degree, but there must be an appreciation by feight operators that ferries are not simply an extension of the road, and that units presented for shipping must be secure, safe, properly manifested and labelled according to the needs of undertaking a sea journey.