New rules requiring ships to report containers lost at sea have brought international shipping into the thrilling age of admitting when something the size of a bungalow falls off the back of a lorry.
The requirements entered into force on 1 January as part of wider maritime amendments covering safety, training, dangerous goods and the equipment expected to remain attached to the ship.
Under the new arrangements, the master of a ship involved in losing freight containers must communicate details of the incident to nearby vessels, the nearest coastal state and the ship’s flag state. The report must include information such as the position and number of containers lost.
This is welcome news for anyone who has stared at the horizon and wondered whether that large rectangular object was cargo, a hazard or an unusually determined holiday home.
At the fictional Bureau of Things That Fell Off The Ship, officials celebrated the reform. Their map now contains more precise markings than “somewhere beyond the blue bit”, although this remains the bureau’s preferred description when nobody has brought a ruler.
Shipping already tracks routes, cargo, fuel and schedules. The new rules ask it to track the important moment when a container decides it has had enough of employment and begins a second career as a navigational threat.
Captain Myrtle Bollard, the fictional Director of Unplanned Buoyancy, welcomed the change by observing that nobody should have to learn about missing cargo from a fisherman’s photograph, particularly when the fisherman was only trying to show everyone his lunch.
The rules are serious. Containers lost overboard can endanger navigation and harm the marine environment. The satirical achievement lies in an industry capable of moving an entire supply chain across the planet being reminded that the ocean is not an acceptable lost property office.
The same package includes new training requirements on preventing and responding to bullying, harassment and sexual assault, alongside further safety measures for ships, lifting equipment, fuel, fire protection and polar voyages. The sea is receiving stronger safeguards and, at last, something resembling a complaints department.
For years, the question “where is it?” could be passed between a tracking number, a spreadsheet and somebody standing beside a crane. Now, if the cargo reaches the water before its destination, there will at least be an official update.
Somewhere, a container is floating proudly towards the horizon, unaware that it has finally been added to the itinerary. It has not been delivered, but it has been promoted to a named stop.
Source: International Maritime Organization.
