Safety at sea – are we doing all that we can?

If this sounds like a tragic remake of Groundhog Day then that is not surprising, because bulk shipping has been here before. The trade of nickel ore from Indonesia to China accounts for a tiny proportion of dry bulk trade each year, but over the last three years it has been almost singularly responsible for putting into reverse two decades of successful efforts to reduce deaths at sea on bulkers.

Eighty-one seafarers — including the Harita Bauxite 15 — have now lost their lives on the Indonesia–China nickel ore trade since late 2010. This is almost four times the total number of seafarers killed globally by pirates over the same period. The list of casualties that have resulted in fatalities makes painful reading: 

Although industry bodies have issued a number of notes offering guidance on the safe loading and shipment of nickel ore, the message does not seem to be getting through to Indonesia’s maritime controllers, specifically the Ministry of Transport, or to miners and shipowners and managers loading the cargo.

Indeed, many of shipping’s leading organizations, including those representing seafarers, have proven consistently reticent about criticizing Indonesia over deaths on its nickel ore export trade, a backwater trade dominated by suspect owners and managers using old ships manned by low paid seafarers. If a similar number of deaths had occurred on ships working the North Sea and manned by Europeans, one imagines the response may be different.

Indonesia is now the world’s largest supplier of nickel ore and China is the largest buyer. Even so, in 2011 the country supplied just 3mt (million tonnes) to China, which in terms of the billion plus tonnes of bulk cargo shipped each year, is a rather marginal line of business.

Indonesia’s nickel mines are predominantly located on the islands of Sulawesi, Halmahera and Papua. None of these islands offers much in the way of cargo testing facilities to measure moisture content — a major problem when it comes to nickel ore.

As previously outlined in DCI, mineral cargoes made up of fine particles shipped in bulk can liquefy if they contain too much moisture. This problem usually occurs when the cargo is mined and stored in conditions which enable the absorption of large amounts of water.

“Nickel ore shipped from Indonesia and the Philippines typically contains substantial moisture content,” said a report from INSG Insight. “The ore is often mined and stored in quite simple facilities that provide no protection from the environment. The ore is a mixture of fine clay-like particles and larger rock-like particles.

“Especially in the monsoon season, the humidity of the shipment may increase and there is a danger that the ore in the cargo hold of a ship may turn to liquid.”

As INSG points outs, in some tests nickel ore has turned to liquid with moisture content in the range of just 35%. Cargo liquefaction can occur quite rapidly and may be started by vibration. “Bulk carriers are not designed to carry cargo in such a state,” said the report. “A liquid cargo destabilizes the vessel, causing listing and ultimately capsizing and sinking.”

Overall volumes exported from Indonesia fell last year following a ban in the first quarter of 2012 by the Indonesian government. Regulation No 7/2012 was entitled ‘Improving Value Added Mineral Processing and Purification through Mineral Activities’ and it imposed limitations on the export of unprocessed copper, gold, silver, nickel, tin, bauxite and zinc. The intention behind the new regulations was to encourage the processing and smelting of ores within Indonesia, but legal challenges by miners saw the Supreme Court of Indonesia rule the legislation illegal in November last year.

After nickel exports had been curtailed for much of the year, the pressure was ramped up to boost exports as fast as possible just at the onset of the worst part of the wet season. As DCI went to press, it was not entirely clear if the Harita Bauxite sank because of nickel ore liquefaction, but the four other casualties on the trade listed above were all found to have been caused by nickel liquefaction.

One of the main issues in Indonesia is the difficulty of enforcing the use of safe loading practices at ports in remote mining areas where infrastructure is often limited. “There is little infrastructure which, combined with the remoteness of some of the ports, means it is difficult to ensure reliable sampling and testing of the cargo,” said one source with a risk assessment background.

“A single lab exists in Indonesia and I understand that the equipment is not as sophisticated as that used in labs in, for example, Singapore. I believe there is also an issue with capacity. “We have also heard of surveyors being assaulted or arrested by the police and there seems to be little support from the Authorities.”

Peter Lundahl Rasmussen, Senior Marine Technical Officer at BIMCO, said that cargo surveyors in Indonesia suffered threats and intimidation when trying to survey nickel ore cargoes.

“It has been reported that actions ranging from being barred from gaining access to the nickel ore cargoes to physical violence, threats, harassment, and being placed under ‘house arrest’ by the police on the pretext of some visa irregularity have been exercised on cargo surveyors. Such conduct is, of course, not acceptable for any of the stakeholders.”

Rob Lomas, Secretary General of Intercargo, which represents shipowners but also includes nickel ore miners with an Indonesian presence in its membership such as Vale, said of the Harita Bauxite loss that “at this early stage, we cannot speculate about the cause of this sad incident.”

But, he continued, “The sudden loss of another bulk carrier in this region underlines the importance for the relevant authorities to quickly conduct their accident investigations so that the dry bulk sector can learn and apply any safety-related lessons from this tragedy, and help in future prevent this unnecessary loss of life.”

Intercargo was happy to take its share of the credit for improving ship safety during the years of declining deaths on bulk carriers. However, its actions on the nickel ore issue in Indonesia since 2010 have hardly smacked of an organization ready and willing to grasp the safety nettle and tackle the miners and politicians largely to blame for these consistent tragedies.

“According to Equasis, the manager of the [Harita Bauxite] is listed as Ocean Sentinels Shipmanagement in Singapore, and I confirm that neither they nor the ship are in Intercargo membership,” said Intercargo manager David Jones. “We’ve no confirmation of who the shipper was at this stage.

“If there are any safety-related lessons to be learned, all stakeholders should take note.”

After so many incidents on a single trade in just three years, it is no wonder many outside the bulk industry ask how long and how many lives it will take before the industry learns its lesson.

BIMCO has now issued a ‘Solid Bulk Cargoes that can Liquefy Clause for Charter Parties’ aiming at assisting its owner members. “BIMCO owners considering fixing nickel ore cargoes are strongly advised to contact their own P&I club for advice and guidance,” said a spokesman.

Intercargo and various P&I Clubs have also issued a range of guides explaining how to safely load nickel ore and test moisture levels. However, as far as DCI can ascertain, most of these guides are aimed at captains of ships able to read English. If they even reach miners and port operators on Indonesia’s more remote islands, the chances of them being understood and followed correctly are rather slim.

Maritime regulators are now attempting to tighten the International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes Code (IMSBC) governing the handling of cargoes such as nickel ore and iron ore fines that can suffer liquefaction. Yet progress is proving painfully slow. The alterations to the Code will not be adapted before the Maritime Safety Committee’s 92nd session in June and will not then enter force until the start of January 2015. “The inclusion of several changes to the Code requested or supported by Intercargo are included, and revisions concerning the control of moisture content for ‘Group A’ cargoes are particularly welcomed,” said Intercargo.

Member states to IMO have been urged to act ahead of the Code amendments. However, many analysts argue that stronger regulations will not help in places where existing regulations are not adhered to and infrastructure and enforcement are lacking.

Steve Cameron, Marine Director at maritime risk, safety and forensic investigator RTI, said ship operators should take control of the loading situation rather than trust land-side assessments in high risk areas. “Where there is insufficient infrastructure they should consider either not carrying the cargo, or if it’s really worth the risk, then invest in inspectors to inspect the supply chain and equipment to carry out their own Flow Moisture Point (FMP) and Transportable Moisture Limit (TMP) tests rather than risk the safety of ship, cargo and crew.”

While shipping industry organizations have been hesitant about pressing Indonesian ministers, Cameron thinks another route to improvements might be available. He said the threat of court actions for corporate manslaughter against mining companies might more quickly ensure improved safety than new regulations that are easily ignored in remote locations and could cause conflict at ports. “The cargo may already be unsafe and its poor condition on arrival at port is likely to trigger either a dispute, or worse, another fatal accident,” he said.

“There needs to be greater pressure for the mining companies to take responsibility for their supply chain from mine to vessel hold. We recommend that the supply chains are audited to establish they are managed safely.”

Bureau Veritas is pioneering new ways of improving bulk carrier safety both during the vessel design stage and throughout operation.

Konstantinos Chatzitolios, Product Manager Dry Cargo & Container Ships, said bulk carriers were exposed to a very demanding service life while at sea and in port and required end-to-end provision of safety services.

“BV carries out both pre-active and active safety services,” he explained, adding that BV currently provides safety services for almost 1,000 bulk carriers currently operating worldwide under its class.

Pre-active services encompass verification of the ship’s structural integrity and the reliability of machinery systems during design, construction and operation. They certify that the vessels are built according to the highest safety standards and will maintain seaworthiness over their designed operational life. “During the design of the ship, all of its structural elements are examined for their capacity to withstand the local loads of the sea and the cargo carried, as well as the global loads which result from the overall bending of the ship while at sea,” said Chatzitolios. “Today, this examination is performed with state-of-the-art 3D finite element analysis software which looks at the real (worst possible) loads that the vessel will encounter during its operation.”

He said sea loads were derived from an analytical hydrodynamic analysis which, for bulk carriers in particular, always factors in severe North Atlantic sea states. “With this holistic analysis we are able to examine the scantlings of the ship and ensure that they are acceptable from a yielding, buckling and fatigue point of view, while maintaining a reliable safety margin,” he added.

In recent years, following the increase in length of ships, for example VLOCs, a physical phenomenon called hydro- elasticity has been identified and is deemed responsible for structural failures of large vessels, he told DCI. Hydro- elasticity is the elastic response of the ship at sea, which may amplify the global loads compared to a smaller and more rigid ship.

“After an extensive research programme, Bureau Veritas has launched a new programme for examining ultra-large ships which takes into account hydro-elastic elements,” he said. “A 200,000 dwt bulk carrier designed by CSBC has already been examined in accordance with this new

programme, paving the way for the new generation of very large bulk carriers.”

Another important aspect in the design of bulk carriers is their ability to undergo loading/unloading operations safely while in ports where cargo grabs, bulldozers and hydraulic hammers can cause physical damage to plating, frames and brackets.

“In loading ports, where the cargo delivery rate is high, the inability to pump out ballast water at a sufficient rate may result in the hull being overstressed,” added Chatzitolios. “Specialized studies are therefore performed to address these issues and to ensure that the vessel remains undamaged in these difficult conditions.

“BV surveyors closely follow every aspect of the ship construction process in order to verify that each ship is built according to its approved drawings — examined at the design stage — and to the highest industry standards.”

After the ship is launched, BV surveyors then ensure each ship is maintained according to BV rules. “This is achieved through surveys carried out at specific time intervals, each survey having its own area of examination, for example, machinery surveys, cargo hold examinations, bottom structure etc.,” he said.

“In the case of bulk carriers, due to their accident-related history, an enhanced survey programme is also carried out whereby shipowners are required to follow specific guidelines relating to the maintenance of ship safety while at sea and in port.”

All safety-enhancing regulations, together with surveys and specific items to be examined, were derived from careful risk analysis studies and from operational feedback. “Nonetheless, real life sometimes demonstrates that not all risk scenarios can be anticipated, and consequently accidents still occur,” he said. “For this reason, the active services of BV are designed to provide support in the event of an accident.

“When the correct initiatives are taken immediately after an accident, the survivability of the ship — and, most importantly, of the crew on board — increases dramatically, minimizing also the risks of damage to the environment.

Despite downward pressure on vessel management maintenance budgets, high levels of scrapping and increased scrutiny from Port State Control Regimes, the number of substandard ships operating in the bulk carrier sector is falling, according to Warwick Norman, the Australia-based CEO of RightShip.

“The world is more transparent now and there are fewer places where these ships can hide,” he said. However, Norman warned there were still substandard ships traversing the world and often serving trades where port practices are also poor, which he suggested was one reason why vessels were still loading cargoes such as nickel ore fines without completing the requisite moisture checks.

“Owners are putting vessels in there mainly because other guys are staying away,” he added.

Since starting operation just over a decade ago, RightShip has vetted over 200,000 vessels and undertaken more than

14,500 physical vessel inspections, with some 75% of its business involving analyzing bulk carriers. In 2012, RightShip processed 33,504 decisions across 2.66 billion tonnes of commodity and removed 1,158 vessels from customer supply chains.

Norman said RightShip’s work had enabled customers to identify in advance the 25% of the global fleet that are the substandard operators who account for approximately 70% of total casualties. He said while there were no particular patterns to identifying substandard bulkers, certain Flags and non-IACS class societies have poor performance curves. “They’ll argue they are targeted more,” he added.

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