Behind every dangerous goods statistic is a small crew with limited equipment, no immediate outside help, and very little time to think. This insight examines the human and environmental cost of container fires and cargo losses at sea, and why reducing seafarer risk starts long before a fire ever breaks out.
This insight is drawn from Thetius and Tigris Systems report, Before the Fire: Dangerous Goods Safety and the Visibility Gap. It looks at the human and environmental cost of dangerous goods incidents at sea, and why reducing that cost starts earlier in the cargo process. The report draws on interviews with professionals across the cargo process, including a merchant marine officer and a maritime expert witness, to explain why the human and environmental consequences of these incidents are often the most immediate and lasting, even after the financial costs of an incident have been settled. It argues that improving dangerous-goods management is not only about protecting vessels and cargo, but about reducing the number of seafarers placed in danger by failures that occurred long before any fire broke out, and that this human cost deserves as much attention in the industry’s response as the damage done to ships, cargo and the wider supply chain.
The human consequences of dangerous goods incidents are the most immediate and serious.
“For the shore team, it can be just numbers and calculations, cargo they want to load and the profit target of the week. On board, we are the first line to suffer and the first line to fight it.”
— Mohamed Adel, Merchant Marine Officer at Hapag-Lloyd AG
A fire at sea leaves a small crew attempting to control an incident with limited equipment and no immediate external support. In the event of a fire, crew are under extreme pressure and tend not to have the time or ability to refer back to specific firefighting instructions.
Improving dangerous-goods management is therefore not only about protecting vessels and cargo, but reducing the number of seafarers placed in danger due to failures earlier in the cargo process.
The environmental effects of a container fire can extend well beyond the vessel itself. In incidents like the one at Ningbo, debris and burning containers thrown onto the shoreline and into the sea have prompted authorities to deploy pollution-prevention and oil-containment vessels, close the surrounding waters to traffic, and monitor air and water quality around the berth throughout the emergency response.
The 2019 MSC Zoe cargo loss incident involved a vessel losing 342 containers north of the Dutch Wadden Islands, sending around three million kilograms of cargo into the sea. Three of the lost containers held hazardous substances, including lithium-ion batteries and expandable polymer beads, with cargo and packaging materials washing ashore across the Wadden area.
It shows how quickly a dangerous-goods casualty can turn into a much wider environmental and coastal emergency, and why identifying risk earlier in the process matters well beyond the vessel itself.
Download ‘Before the Fire’ to read more about the human and environmental cost of dangerous goods incidents.
