In 2024 alone, there were 250 fire incidents at sea, a 20% increase year on year and the highest number in a decade, with undeclared and misdeclared goods cited by the World Shipping Council as the leading cause. This report explores why dangerous goods incidents remain so hard to prevent, even within an established international regulatory framework. It follows a container’s dangerous goods information from the shipper’s declaration through the freight forwarder, carrier, terminal and vessel to show where it gets separated from the container it describes, and examines what operators can practically do to close that gap
It addresses several key questions, including:
- Why do dangerous goods incidents keep happening, and where in the process, from booking to stowage, does information most often break down?
- What is driving the scale of the problem today, including the growing, often hidden presence of lithium-ion batteries in everyday cargo?
- What does effective dangerous goods management look like, and what should an operator’s process across the full cargo lifecycle achieve?
- How should operators put better dangerous goods management into practice, including improving data quality, flagging risk earlier, automating routine checks while keeping specialists in control, and scaling through measured pilots?
Container ship fires now occur roughly every 17 days worldwide. Dangerous goods information already exists throughout the shipping process, but it sits in silos, scattered across shippers, carriers, terminals and vessels, each with limited visibility into what the others know. This report sets out what it will take to close that gap, and why the industry needs to solve it together, before the next fire starts.
Download your copy of the report today.