While the growth and efficiency of transporting all types of goods in large containers aboard specially designed ships has become a daily business, there is an offsetting danger for the merchant seaman. Prior to accepting a sealed container, the shipper provides the transportation company with a manifest listing the contents of the container. While ordinary shipments of clothes and household goods are susceptible to spontaneous combustion in extreme heat that can develop in a sealed container, the real problem problem occurs from mislabeling. For example, Chinese fireworks are not infrequently declared as "general merchandise".
Mislabeling and false weighing can occur due to the various fees for product categories as well as custom taxes charged the shipper, depending upon the weight of the goods. Each container has an attached label noting the empty weight of the container. While not always available for inspection, there is the opportunity for the shipper to declare products that do not relate to those contained, in order to receive a lesser fee for shipment. Due to the need to offload and reload containers and get the ship out of port to proceed to the next port, a major portion of the containers may not be weighed.
The stability of a cargo ship at sea is a major concern. Obviously, if there is over weighted cargo above deck then the crew is in danger in heavy weather. This is another reason to weigh containers from questionable shippers. Great care is taken to assure that the weight below decks meets the requirements assuring a safety margin established.
The problem of a container fire is a small percentage today based upon the number of ships carrying hundreds of containers. However, there are at least a half dozen reports of fires at sea in the past two years, attributed to a burning or exploding container. An example of the problem of containing a fire occurred alongside a pier on a container ship three years ago. Forty boxes had to be removed before fire fighters could gain access to the leaking container. This would be something impossible to do if at sea.
Another danger facing seafarers (for years the word "Seaman" has referred to merchant seaman-today there are many women sailing in licensed and unlicensed positions) is the need to avoid pirate waters. One of the problems in suggestions that the ship could carry armed personnel, is the fact that many seaports around the world will not accept armedmerchant vessels. Unfortunately, ships traveling at 15 to 20 knots are unable to outrun or avoid a pirate that can be traveling well over 30 knots armed with high caliber weapons. There are trade routes that expose the potential danger which shippers hope that the shore of force by patrol vessels will discourage new attacks.
Information from article published in the winter edition of the Seafarers and International House.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Seth_R_Schneible_Sr
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