The proliferation of serious fires onboard container ships in recent years has shocked the shipping industry. Here we examine the causes and impact of such fires and the urgent efforts being made by a wide variety of stakeholders to solve this seemingly intractable problem.Over the last decade there has been a 70% fall in ship total losses[1]. This has been widely credited to long term improvements in ship safety management and loss prevention programs…
As maritime industries accelerate toward electrification, the U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center (RDC) has issued a warning: lithium-ion batteries—the same technology powering the global shift to hybrid and all-electric vessels—pose a unique and evolving threat when things go wrong…
The World Shipping Council (WSC) has launched a Cargo Safety Program, an industry-led initiative to detect misdeclared and undeclared dangerous goods in order to prevent ship fires.The program combines AI-powered cargo screening and common inspection…
Danish shipping company Maersk said on Monday that a fire that broke out onboard the vessel Marie Maersk off Liberia on Wednesday last week had stopped spreading, and that firefighting efforts would be intensified further.'Over the weekend,…
Safetytech Accelerator, a non-profit established by Lloyd’s Register, has confirmed that UK maritime insurers, the UK P&I Club and TT Club, have signed up for its Cargo Fire & Loss Innovation Initiative (CFLII).The Initiative, launched in February 2023…
Commercial insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty released its Safety & Shipping Review, an annual analysis of shipping losses and accidents worldwide. The 2022 report reveals that the maritime sector continues its long-term positive…
As the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Technical Committee on Gas Hazards votes on the First Draft of the next edition of NFPA 306, Standard for the Control of Gas Hazards on Vessels, the NFPA Certificated Marine Chemist Program…
Viking Life-Saving Equipment has acquired HydroPen, the company behind the unique HydroPen container firefighting solution. HydroPen, attached to a ship’s hose and raised on a telescopic arm by a single crew member, uses water pressure alone…
