The Cargo Integrity Group (CIG) is calling on national administrations to carry out and report the findings of their container inspection programs, and for the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to continue collating and publishing the results in a publicly accessible form, to support efforts to improve safety in the carriage of goods by sea.

Under resolutions adopted more than 20 years ago, member governments of the IMO agreed to conduct routine inspections of freight containers and the cargoes packed in them in a consistent way1. The findings are to be submitted annually to IMO for collation and reporting so that a global picture of levels of compliance with international regulations and recommended practices can be obtained, and any appropriate safety improvements identified.

An analysis by partner organisations in the Cargo Integrity Group reveals that less than 5 per cent of 167 national administrations covered by the agreement are regularly submitting the results of their inspections to IMO in publicly available form. Whilst applauding the diligence of those governments making regular submissions, the Cargo Integrity Group is concerned at the overall low numbers of reports as this means that insufficient data is available for IMO or industry to draw reliable conclusions, fundamentally undermining efforts to improve the safety and sustainability of shipments by sea.

The Cargo Integrity Group understands that other states may be conducting inspections of containerized goods entering and leaving their countries but are not submitting the findings to IMO as agreed. Where such reports are not submitted to IMO there is no shared value.

CIG partners believe that common and consistent reporting of inspection findings is essential to help target communication and training programs aimed at improving awareness of the requirements and recommended safe practices for the transport of goods in containers. These include the SOLAS Convention2, the CSC Convention3, the IMDG Code4, and the CTU Code5.

The dangers posed by poorly packed, mis-handled or mis-declared containerized shipments has been demonstrated again recently in a series of fires and explosions aboard container ships. Whilst the precise circumstances of these incidents remain under investigation, the Cargo Integrity Group is concerned that measures already in place to help identify possible weaknesses are not being fully implemented and that opportunities for improving compliance standards are being missed.

CIG partner organizations are also alarmed to learn that the IMO is considering discontinuing the collation and publication of these reports in a form that is easily accessible to Industry. The future of this essential function by the global maritime regulatory agency is being decided in meetings taking place this week.

The Cargo Integrity Group calls on national administrations to fully implement their agreed actions on submitting container inspection findings to IMO to help improve standards in the safe and compliant transport of goods by sea and to follow-up on material deficiencies that may be discovered.

In addition, the Group calls on IMO to continue to publish the reported findings in a form that allows ready understanding of where efforts to improve awareness of, and compliance with, mandatory regulations need to be directed.