Here’s the Risk For Your Merchandise
It’s Dangerous Out There On The High Seas.
After the onset of COVID.
The pandemic trapped hundreds of thousands of beleaguered seafarers aboard ships
for months beyond their contracts. Then came the supply chain crisis, causing
container ship volumes to spike and keeping even the oldest vessels in service.
Then war broke out, affecting even more seafarers.
Allianz, one of the world’s largest insurance companies, published its
annual review of shipping casualties this month. To put shipping’s 2021
track record in context, American Shipper spoke with Capt. Rahul Khanna,
Allianz’s global head of marine risk consulting.
The good news is that despite headline-grabbing fires, sinkings, groundings,
collisions and explosions,
the casualty numbers have not
skyrocketed. Every
accident is one too many, but shipping’s multi-decade trend toward improved
safety remains intact.
The bad news is that
risks remain elevated and
bigger ship sizes are leading to ballooning monetary claims.
Graph
showing ships declared losses – 54 in 2021
Total
ship losses down, total accidents up
Fifty-four ships were declared
total losses in 2021. That’s down 17%
from the year before, according to Allianz, citing casualty data from Lloyd’s
List Intelligence. The top three causes were
sinking (59%), fire (15%) and
machinery failure (11%).
These numbers are a huge improvement versus the days of the Exxon Valdez spill
in Alaska. Three decades ago, there were around 40% fewer commercial vessels on
the water, yet four times as many ships lost per year.
There were
3,000 maritime accidents
altogether in 2021, up 10% from the year before.
Machine failure was the largest cause, responsible for 44% of incidents. Khanna
maintained that the increased number of accidents does not yet signal a clear
trend; it could be a year-to-year fluctuation or the result of lockdown-induced
shipping reductions in 2020.
More
containers, more accident risk
“The global supply chain crisis is a big one,” said Khanna of recent safety
risks.
The race to import more cargo has filled container ships to the max. The more
boxes onboard, the higher the risk that one could contain undeclared hazardous
materials, a leading source of shipboard fires.
Ports
get a lot more crowded
The COVID-era shipping boom has also brought big changes to ports and the waters
offshore. Terminals are busier and anchorages are much more crowded.
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